Livni urges Abbas to 'make brave decisions'
Foreign minister meets with Palestinian president in New York, suggests discussing only realistic and achievable issues: 'We have to be courageous in decision making, but also smart enough to advance the process in a realistic manner, preventing it from failing'
The meeting, which lasted for about an hour, was attended by members of the Palestinian negotiations team, Riad al-Malki, Yasser Abed Rabbo and Ahmed Qureia, and on the Israeli side, Alon Bar of the Foreign Ministry and Livni's diplomatic advisor Tal Becker.
The meeting was held at Abbas' request, in a bid to discuss the peace process in general and way to bridge the gaps ahead of the US-sponsored international peace conference scheduled to take place in Maryland in November.
Earlier Friday, Abbas told the United Nations General Assembly that Israel and the Palestinians should discuss the permanent issues, the Jerusalem border, the refugees and water issues in an effort to reach an agreement in the coming months.
Foreign Minister Livni told the Palestinian president, "We must be courageous in our decision making, but also smart enough to advance the process in a realistic way, preventing it from failing."
The Israeli and Palestinian teams are expected to meet in Jerusalem next week as part of their preparations for the conference.
Abbas asked to meet with Livni a day after slamming Israel's operations in the Gaza Strip, which left 11 Palestinians dead, and urging the Security Council to bring about a halt in Israel's activities in the Strip.
Over the past week, the foreign minister met with dozens of Arab leaders from the Gulf states and North Africa. The Arab leaders met with Livni at the UN headquarters despite the reported Israeli airstrike in Syria and the cabinet's decision to declare the Gaza Strip a "hostile entity".
Livni is attempting to bring about a normalization in the process – let the Arab countries take part in the process instead of waiting for the results of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Earlier Friday, before his speech at the UN, Abbas said that Israel and the Palestinians could sign a peace deal within six months of the international peace conference scheduled for November.
"The meeting in November should define the principles settling the questions over the final status (of the Palestinian territories)," Abbas said in an interview with AFP. "Then we will begin negotiations on the details under a timeframe, which ought not to exceed six months, to reach a peace treaty."
"We hope that Syria and Lebanon will also participate in the meeting," he added.
