Palestinians: Netanyahu's invitation to the Knesset a bluff
During his 40 minute speech to the UN General Assembly, this time devoid of any gimmicks, the prime minister extended an invitation to PA President Mahmoud Abbas to visit Jerusalem; Palestinian official decries the invitation as ‘not serious,' insisting ‘Netanyahu is committed to one state.’
"President Abbas, I invite you to come and speak at the Knesset in Jerusalem and I will gladly come to speak at the parliament in Ramallah," the Israeli leader said during his speech.
A senior Palestinian official told Ynet however, that he believed Netanyahu’s speech was little more than a repetition of points made in the past which were merely intended for Israeli domestic consumption and Jewish people around the world.
“This was an expected speech, especially the invitation to the Knesset. This invitation is not only not serious but is also not sophisticated. It is a bluff,” the official concluded. “We know exactly what his plan is and it doesn’t include the establishment of a sovereign state of Palestine. For this reason, we can’t take the invitation seriously.”
The official went on to say that while Netanyahu repeated what he described as the same statements indicating his interest in a two-state solution, the prime minister was not prepared to define what kind of Palestinian state or elaborate on its borders. “Netanyahu is committed to a one state solution rather than a two-state solution,” the official continued.
Moreover, he refused to draw parallels between Netanyahu’s invitation to Abbas to the visit paid former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at the invitation of former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. “You can’t compare the situation of Egyptian, of which only a part was occupied, and the situation of the Palestinian Authority which is completely occupied by Israel.” The official also highlighted that just as the Palestinians were not prepared to engage in negotiations just for the sake of negotiations, they were also not willing to coordinate a visit by Abbas to the Knesset purely for the sake of visiting the Knesset.
