Abbas aide: Stop Netanyahu's gross obstinacy
Spokesman says 'Palestinian government will be independent, have nothing to do with Fatah, Hamas'
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called on the US administration to "stop Netanyahu's gross obstinacy, which is keeping him from entering into a real, viable peace process based on the two-state solution."
Speaking after a meeting between Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama Abu Rudeineh added, "The Palestinian government will be independent and will have nothing to do with Fatah or Hamas and its plans will be based on President Abbas's plans. Netanyahu's remarks are just an excuse to avoid the truth, and to escape sitting down at the negotiating table."
After the meeting Netanyahu told reporters he had stressed before Obama that the Palestinian Authority must choose between a recent reconciliation deal with Hamas and peace with Israel.
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat also took issue with Netanyahu's post-meeting remarks.
"Without Mr. Netanyahu committing to two states on the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed swaps, he is not a partner to the peace process, and, I think, when President Obama gave him a choice between dictation and negotiations, he chose dictation, and when he gave him a choice between settlements and peace, he chose settlements."
"I don't think we can talk about a peace process with a man who says the 1967 lines are an illusion," Erekat said.
'Netanyahu rejects peace'
Earlier Friday, in an interview with the Israeli Arab newspaper Kul Alarab, Abu Rudeineh said Netanyahu "has been revealed in his declarations and behavior once again to be someone who refuses to conduct a peace process".
The Abbas aide responded to Thursday's speech by US President Barack Obama, who urged Israel to make "bold" moves and return to the 1967 borders in order to secure peace with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu "has chosen to crash into the wall of international law, the Road Map, and the Arab initiative", Abu Rudeineh said. "From his first day in power he has been avoiding reaching peace."
He also accused the prime minister of causing the former US special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, to resign.
"He succeeded in thwarting Mitchell's and Obama's mission, and therefore the US must be firm with the Netanyahu government," he said.
'PA won't cede its principles'
Regarding the prime minister's refusal to retreat to the 1967 borders he said the Palestinians would never cede their "principles". "It doesn't matter how long it takes – this land will return to us someday," Abu Rudeineh said.
He added that Israel's ire over the recent reconciliation signed with Hamas "are just evasion attempts, and Netanyahu knows this".
Meanwhile the Arab League as well as foreign ministers from Poland and France expressed support for President Barack Obama's endorsement of border demands made by the Palestinians.
At a joint news conference in Bydgoszcz on Friday Alain Juppe said that France believes an end should be made to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and that the sides should sit at a negotiating table. Poland's Radek Sikorski expressed support for Obama and said urgent steps should be taken to solve the Middle East conflict.
Outgoing Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa called on the US to act on Obama's ideas. "The US must carry out Obama's speech and strive for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the borders he mentioned, with Jerusalem as its capital," he said in a statement. "The Palestinian issue is vital to the stabilizing of the Middle East."
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