Abbas: No talks unless Israel first agrees on borders

JERUSALEM (JWN and agencies)—Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met for a fifth time in Amman on Wednesday, under the shadow of a looming deadline for progress in the talks and following a harsh clash in their session on Saturday.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, meeting with King Abdullah II in Amman before Wednesday’s session, set a new condition for the talks, according to WAFA, the Palestinian news agency: Israel must recognize the borders of a Palestinian state.

“If the borders are set it’s possible to return to negotiations, but the Israelis do not want established borders,” Abbas said following his meeting with the king. He said the Palestinian Authority would consult with Abdullah and the Arab Monitoring Committee before decided whether to continue talks.

WAFA quoted Abbas as saying the biggest issue in the way of resuming high-level direct negotiations is Israel’s continued expansion of settlements, especially in “occupied” Jerusalem.

January 26 is the deadline originally set by the Quartet (the UN, US, EU, and Russia) at the UN in September, but which has since come into dispute since the Amman talks were initiated by King Abdullah in December. In September, the Quartet gave the sides three months to produce proposals on territory and security.

The Palestinians interpret the three-month deadline as ending on January 26. In contrast, Israel considers the three-months to have begun when the talks resumed in Amman.

The Palestinians are considered unlikely to break off the talks, because the move would not be supported by the Quartet.

This notwithstanding, the Amman talks witnessed the first open confrontation between negotiators on Saturday, according to Haaretz. The clash occurred when PA negotiator Saeb Erekat reportedly refused to let a senior Israeli officer present Israel’s position on security arrangements.

Haaretz quoted an Israeli official as saying that Erekat and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s envoy Yitzhak Molcho exchanged harsh words in front of their stunned Jordanian hosts when Molcho introduced the head of the IDF Strategic Planning Division, Brig.-Gen. Assaf Orion, to give details of Israel’s position on security arrangements.

In line with what it considers to be the Quartet’s revised deadline, Israel has told the Palestinians it will present its position on borders by the end of March. Molcho brought Orion to Saturday’s meeting to give a summary.

This surprised Erekat, who refused to let the officer speak, saying that if Israel is interested, it can pass them the written document.

“I do not have the mandate to negotiate security arrangements until you present detailed documents with your position on the issue of borders and on the security issue,” Erekat was quoted as saying.

Molcho responded by saying, “If you do not have the mandate to discuss this, maybe you should leave and bring someone in your place who does have the mandate,” he said.

After taking a few minutes to cool off, the two sides resumed discussion on a different topic.