PLO Says Russia Bids for Abbas, Netanyahu Meeting

Ramallah, 30 Muharram 1438/31 October 2016 (MINA) – Senior official of PLO Executive Committee said Sunday that Russia has started movement to host a bilateral meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Member of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Ahmad Mjadalani told Xinhua that Moscow has not sent invitations for the meeting, but has informed the Palestinian leadership that it started preparations for such a meeting.

“What we were informed by Russia is that it is studying the thorough preparations for the meeting with Netanyahu by eliminating obstacles in the way of the meeting and work to make it succeed before sending out official invitations,” said Majladani.

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He mentioned that the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev who is expected to visit Israel and the West Bank on Nov. 10 will discuss this matter.

The PLO official said that the Palestinian side, which welcomes any meeting with the Israeli side, in accordance with a pre-set timeframe and a guaranteed success to yield results and not just to serve as public relations.

“The Palestinian side does not put any pre-conditions to hold any meetings, but there are due obligations that Israel must act upon, including freezing settlement activity and releasing the last batch for the pre-Oslo prisoners,” explained Majdalani.

In 1993, the PLO and Israel signed the interim Oslo Accords, under which the Palestinian National Authority was established and chaired by late Yasser Arafat.

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It was transitional for six years, where the two sides were supposed to negotiate a permanent status in September 1999. However, the two sides held a round of talks in Camp David but both failed to reach an agreement.

Not optimistic

Meanwhile, Majdalani said he is not so optimistic about Netanyahu’s seriousness towards the Russian initiative.

Russia formerly called for a meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu to be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin last September, but it was postponed till further notice.

On Sept. 6, Abbas said that he received a telephone call from the special Russian peace envoy who informed him that Netanyahu asked to postpone the trilateral meeting in Moscow.

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The peace talks between Palestine and Israel have been stalled since April 2014. The U.S. sponsored talks that lasted for nine months achieved no tangible results. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)