Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that he was making efforts to formulate an exchange agreement that would include the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
He made the remarks in a meeting with four Arab MKs from the United Arab List-Ta'al: Ibrahim Sarsur, Ahmad Tibi, Talab el-Sana and MK Abas Zkoor, who came to Ramallah to congratulate Abbas on the unity government and express their full support.
MK el-Sana told Ynet, "Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) said that he had wanted Shalit to be released before the unity government was established. He is sorry it didn't happen but he hasn't thrown in the towel.
"He is now working on it on all fronts and he does not regard it as an obligation, but as a major ethical issue that could generate trust between the two people. He said he is optimistic but there are obstacles," added el-Sana.
MK Tibi said that at the meeting they "emphasized that the agreement between Fatah and Hamas was an internal Palestinian matter; just as the agreement to have Lieberman join the government was internal.
"The government should be judged by its policies and not according to the coalition agreements between its components," he stated.
El-Sana quoted Abbas as saying that he and the PLO and not the Palestinian government had the authority to negotiate with Israel .
"Even if the Israeli government wanted to start negotiations with Haniyeh tomorrow, under Palestinian law he cannot negotiate," he stressed.
"We said that the Israeli government was trying to put a spoke in the wheel of the peace negotiations because, first, it is a weak government that couldn't negotiate even if it wanted to, and second, the government has no diplomatic program," he stated.
Abbas also said that the Arab League peace initiative, to be discussed at this month's Riyadh Summit, would not be modified. No changes will be made, especially not in the section that discusses Palestinian refugees.
"We mentioned that the Israeli government was evaluating the new government and the Saudi initiative based on a few quotes instead of analyzing Haniyeh's entire speech," said el-Sana.
"For example, he said that any people had the right to resist as long as it was in accordance to international law. Nobody paid any attention to that," he said.