Netanyahu: Negotiations ‘Won’t be Easy’
Netanyahu expresses hope that negotiations with PA will be ‘serious,’ says Israel committed to ‘security and peace.’-By Maayana Miskin-First Publish: 7/21/2013, 1:07 PM-israelnationalnews
Binyamin Netanyahu-Isrsael news photo: Flash 90
“The negotiations will not be easy,” Netanyahu warned his ministers.
“But we are going into it with honesty, sincerity, and hope that the process will be conducted seriously and responsibly,” he continued.Netanyahu tied the issue to the legacy of Menachem Begin, who was born 100 years ago today. “Begin understood security first and foremost. He did not hesitate to act… He attacked Saddam Hussein’s reactor in Iraq, and I think history has taught us how important that step was,” he said.
“We are just as dedicated to peace and security. We are currently making an effort to restart the diplomatic process, I see this as a vital strategic interest.“First of all we want peace. Alongside this, I am committed to two goals, and it must be clear that they must shape the outcome as well… First of all, if there will be [an agreement], it will be brought to a referendum. I believe that this is vital,” he continued.“I do not think that decisions like these can be made, if an agreement is reached, in some coalition deal or another, but rather, a thing like this must be brought to the nation,” he declared.“One of my goals for the process itself is preventing the creation of a binational state between the Jordan and the sea, while at the same time preventing the creation of another terrorist state sponsored by Iran.“We will need to find the balance between these two things, and our negotiating partners will need to make concessions, too, that will allow us to defend our security and our vital national interests,” he said.Minister Uri Orbach of the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) faction spoke at the Cabinet meeting as well, and denied reports that the government had agreed to free terrorist prisoners – one of PA Chairman Abbas’ former preconditions for talks.“Freeing terrorists isn’t the price one pays for beginning negotiations. Israel is going in with no preconditions,” he stated.
Negotiations will be direct and discreet, Netanyahu tells cabinet
PM says any deal will need to be approved by referendum; Peres tells Abbas ‘there is no alternative to peace, not for us and not for you’
July 21, 2013, 11:56 am
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Hotovely: The Talks Will Lead Nowhere
It's only a matter of time before the current round of peace talks breaks down, predicts Deputy Transportation Minister.-By Elad Benari-First Publish: 7/21/2013, 5:41 AM-israelnationalnews
Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely-Flash 90
Deputy
Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) predicted on Saturday
night that the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority
will break down, adding that it’s only a matter of time until it
happens.
"Kerry is
still far from recording an achievement about the resumption of the
talks,” said Hotovely. “The weak Palestinian leadership headed by
Mahmoud Abbas has consistently refused to reach a peace agreement and
rejected both Olmert's and Barak’s generous offers.”She called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to release terrorists as part of the negotiations."The current
move will end with nothing. The question is only when. However, it would
be a serious mistake to freeze construction and release security
prisoners in exchange for empty moves,” said Hotovely.US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that Israeli and PA negotiators will meet in Washington in the near future after an agreement was reached on the basis to resume peace talks.Netanyahu said on Saturday night that renewing negotiations is a "vital" Israeli interest."The resumption of the peace process is a vital strategic interest of the state of Israel," Netanyahu said in a statement."It is important on its own to try to bring an end
to the conflict between us and the Palestinians, and is important
because of the challenges facing us, especially from Iran and Syria," he
said.
A PA leader told the Associated Press on Friday that Kerry’s plan to get Israel and the PA talking again involves getting Israel to release hundreds of terrorist prisoners.Ahmed
Majdalani said that Kerry has assured PA leaders that Israel would
gradually free some 350 terrorists in the coming months. The prisoners
would include some 100 men that were arrested over terrorist attacks
carried out before the 1993 Oslo Accords. Israel has refused to free
these terrorists in the past because many of them carried out some of
the deadliest attacks against Israelis.International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz
admitted during a cultural event on Saturday that Israel had agreed to
release what he termed “heavy prisoners”.
MKs Worry: What did PM Promise Abbas?
Rumors abound regarding Israeli concessions that restarted talks.
Netanyahu and Kerry meet in Jerusalem-Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Flash 90
MK Miri Regev, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, called Sunday
for an urgent meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee to address the issue.“In wake of [U.S. Secretary of State] Kerry’s announcement in Amman
regarding the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians, I am
calling on the Prime Minister to
bring the essential points of the renewal of talks to the Knesset’s
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for approval,” she said.“I should note that since Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is responsible
for oversight of the talks with the Palestinians, I request that she,
too, come and give a report regarding the renewal of talks,” Regev
added.“I want an urgent meeting on the matter because of the various
reports saying that Israel agreed to negotiate based on the 1967 lines,
and that there is agreement to an Israeli gesture to Abu Mazen [Abbas’
nom de guerre – ed.] involving the release of ‘serious’ Palestinian
prisoners who were involved in acts of terror and murder of Jews,
prisoners who pose a threat to Israel’s security,” she continued. “We
will demand that the Prime Minister clarify the truth.”“I wish to emphasize that the deliberation on an agreement based on
the 1967 lines is dangerous to Israel’s security and to the future of
Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria,” she added.Members of the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) part, including ministers Naftali Bennett
and Uri Ariel, have expressed concern as well. Ariel warned that if
reports regarding Netanyahu’s concessions to Abbas were true, “this is a
serious mistake.”There have been several reports regarding Netanyahu’s promises to
Abbas, who formerly listed several preconditions to talks, among them
the release of terrorist prisoners held by Israel and a complete ban on construction of new housing for Jews living east of the 1949 armistice line.Some foreign papers have said that Netanyahu agreed to base talks on
the “1967 lines,” meaning the 1949 armistice line. Others report that
Netanyahu promised to free terrorist prisoners prior to his first
meeting with Abbas. Some reports say Netanyahu agreed to an unofficial
building freeze in Judea and Samaria, as well.According to Maariv/nrg, Abbas continued to refuse talks despite
concessions from Netanyahu, until Kerry warned him that his refusal
would mean a cut to U.S. financial assistance to the PA. The PA relies
heavily on foreign support.
1967 lines not the basis for new talks, report says
Palestinians claim Kerry guaranteed key precondition as well as quiet building freeze; Peres-Abbas back channel said to be behind breakthrough
July 21, 2013, 6:39 am
7-the times of israel
In his statement Saturday night, Netanyahu
said the negotiations were vital in order “to seek to bring to an end
the conflict between us and the Palestinians” and important, too, “given
the challenges we face, primarily from Iran and Syria.” Israel, he
added, had two goals in the talks: “Preventing the creation of a single
binational state between the [Mediterranean] Sea and the Jordan [River],
which would endanger the future of the Jewish state, and preventing the
establishment of an additional Iranian-sponsored terrorist state on
Israel’s borders, which could endanger us no less.”He thanked Kerry for his “great efforts” to
get the sides back to the negotiating table and vowed that he would
“insist upon Israel’s security need and its vital strategic interests.”Israeli sources said the talks were set to
last 9-12 months. Israel would be represented by Justice Minister Tzipi
Livni and Netanyahu envoy Yitzhak Molcho and the Palestinians by veteran
negotiator Saeb Erekat. Kerry said Friday he expected the talks to
resume in Washington next week, but Israeli officials said logistics
might require a further week of preparation.Israeli sources said Erekat would doubtless
raise demands for talks on the basis of the pre-1967 lines and for a
settlement freeze — but these would be issues to negotiate at the table,
not preconditions. Also, they said, while Israel would release most or
all of the more than 100 Palestinian security prisoners held since
before the Oslo accords were signed 20 years ago, they would go free in
phases, depending on the progress of the talks. first group of 82 such prisoners, many of
whom have Israeli blood on their hands, could be released within four to
six weeks, they said. No veteran Israeli Arab prisoners would be freed,
Channel 2 reported on Saturday night.According to London’s Sunday Times, secret
talks several months ago between President Shimon Peres and Abbas in
Jordan facilitated the imminent resumption of peace talks. During
meetings in Amman, Peres persuaded Abbas to relinquish the Palestinian
demand that settlers be evacuated, the report said.Such an understanding would mean that Abbas
agreed, before the actual resumption of talks, to accept hundreds of
thousands of Jewish residents of the West Bank and east Jerusalem as
subjects or citizens of a future Palestinian state.The Times of Israel could not independently confirm the report.
Ex-PA minister: Abbas cowed by threat of US aid loss
There is a majority in the Knesset for a peace deal, insists science minister and former Shin Bet chief Yaakov Peri
July 21, 2013, 12:46 pm
0-the times of israel
“Abbas
feels American pressure, and Arab [League] pressure,” said Abuzayyad, a
former Palestinian legislator, cabinet minister and negotiator. “The
Arab League is telling him, ‘You can’t be seen as responsible for
Kerry’s failure.’”Asked about reports that Abbas faced US
threats to withdraw aid if he didn’t enter talks, Abuzayyad told Army
Radio, “Of course there was a threat of economic sanctions, as much as
$500 million per year. There was pressure related to the end of aid.”Abuzayyad was a member of the Palestinian
Legislative Council from 1996 until 2006 and served on several
Palestinian negotiating teams, including during the Oslo peace process
in the early 1990s.Meanwhile, former Shin Bet chief Yaakov Peri,
who serves as the science and technology minister in the current
government, suggested that if the right wing of the Netanyahu government
threatened to bolt over the new talks, Netanyahu would still find a
majority in the Knesset for a peace deal.“If, God forbid, there’s a political crisis,
an agreement [with the Palestinians] would have a majority in the
Knesset,” Peri said.Peri was presumably referring to a statement
of opposition chair MK Shelly Yachimovich (Labor), who has promised in
the past to give Netanyahu the political “maneuvering room” to carry out
peace talks.“The talks are welcome in and of themselves,
and will benefit Israel immediately in the international arena,”
Yachimovich said Sunday in a meeting with President Shimon Peres at the
President’s Residence in Jerusalem.“But we must remember,” she added, “that the goal is not the process, but attaining a real agreement.”She promised to continue to support the
government in its peace efforts, but added that Labor would not stop
criticizing the government’s economic policies.
NETANYAHU-EUROPE UNDERMINES THE NEGOTIATIONS
