So now the Arab plans, always obvious and never hidden, have become noticed again in the US congress. It’s good that Berman says it’s time for Abbas to give, but would it make any difference? Berman ignores the even more obvious, that the intention of Abbas is to finally destroy Israel. He does not speak of any change of US and world policy towards Israel, and doesn’t find any fault with the “two state solution” or US policy towards Israel. He just points out that Abbas isn’t playing the game like the US wants, while Netanyahu is cooperating fully.
Posted by IMRA
Washington, D.C. – Howard L. Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today issued this statement regarding proposed unconditional peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian authorities:
“I am deeply disappointed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has consistently rejected Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s call for unconditional talks on the Palestinian issue.
“As everyone familiar with Israeli politics knows, Netanyahu has taken a politically courageous and substantively important step in endorsing the idea of ‘two states for two peoples,’ and he has also taken significant steps to ease travel and access in the West Bank by dismantling numerous checkpoints and roadblocks. Nevertheless, Abbas is demanding that Netanyahu establish a settlement freeze as a condition for a meeting. This is a condition Abbas never required of Netanyahu’s predecessor Ehud Olmert.
Moreover, in the context of bilateral talks, Abbas could raise his settlement concerns directly with Netanyahu – concerns which, Abbas knows, are being discussed intensively between U.S. and Israeli officials.
“For the sake of re-establishing an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and helping to create an environment of peace, I call on President Abbas immediately to accept Prime Minister Netanyahu’s proposal for unconditional talks on peace.”
