"Landep News"
Talks in Amman
The consultations ended after five rounds of talks the capital of Jordan hosted, with a deadline on January 26, during which time Israel was supposed to present the Palestinians with a proposal on the border issues.
The last session was scene to a skirmish between the chief negotiators of the two sides. The subject was the fact that the Israeli negotiator brought with him a general who wanted to speak about security arrangements.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said he had no mandate to hear the Israeli general about the security arrangements, at which time the Israeli counterpart asked him to leave and send in someone who had mandate to hear.
Then Yitzak Molcho lashed out at the Palestinian diplomat saying that the Palestinian media was hosting threats to the security of Israel and the Jewish people. He quoted the Mufti of Jerusalem, who said in one of his addresses that the Jews should be killed, and backed his claim with words from the holy book of Islam.
According to the Palestinian negotiation team no serious progress was made in the negotiations held in Jordan. They threatened to stop all kind of talks unless Israel proposed a plan for the borders by Thursday.
The deadline is consistent with the request of the Middle East Quartet, composed of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and the Russian Federation, which has demanded on October 26, that the two sides make a series of proposals in three months time.
Palestinians consider that the three months expire on Thursday, while the Israelis consider that it expires in April since the period of three months started on January 3, when the first round of talks began.
The international participants are pressing Israel to offer some confidence-building measures that would make it difficult for the Palestinians to walk away. They first proposed that Israel releases some prisoners, which is a request made by the Palestinian side.
The European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is touring now the capitals of Israel and Palestinian Territories, where she is to meet the leaders of the two communities. Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, also said he would be in the Middle East, where he visits Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan.
Mahmoud Abbas said that he would consult with King Abdullah of Jordan and with the Arab League, before making a decision on continuing the talks. It would seem that following the meeting with the King of Jordan on Wednesday night the president of the Palestinian Authority softened his position and said that the negotiation could resume only if Israel proposes a plan for borders.
Catherine Ashton said in Gaza that she hoped the exploratory talks would grow into genuine negotiations. The Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu said that he was in favor of talks and would ensure that they continued.
The talks between Palestinians and Israel have been stalled since September 2010, when the settlement freeze in West Bank expired. Ever since, the two sides accused each other of not being committed to the peace process.
The Palestinians refused to return to negotiations unless one of their basic conditions was observed: the freeze on settlements in the West Bank. Israel in turn demanded that the negotiations be without preconditions.
The two sides are discussing the two-state solution, according to which a Palestinian state would be created next to the state of Israel. In order for that to happen there are some issues that must be reviewed, such as security issues for Israel or territorial issues for the Palestinians.
Israel wants the Palestinians to recognize the existence of the state of Israel as the Jewish state, and insists that the West Bank settlements are necessary for the defense of the state.
The Palestinians are divided over recognizing Israel and are not ready to accept the idea that recognizing Israel as a state of the Jews the fate of the refugees would be sealed, in the sense that they would not stand a chance anymore to return to Israel.
The Palestinians also demand that the territory of the new state to be the one before the conflict between Israel and the Arab countries in 1967, that is the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the East Jerusalem.
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