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Abbas clarifies terms for direct Mideast talks
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Abbas clarifies terms for direct Mideast talks
Reuters - 2 hours 38 minutes ago
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By Tom Perry
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel must agree to the idea of a third party guarding the borders of a future Palestinian state before direct peace talks can start.
In a newspaper interview published on Saturday, Abbas said Israel must also agree in principle to an equitable land swap that would compensate the Palestinians for West Bank land absorbed by Jewish settlements in any peace deal.
The remarks were the clearest statement yet of what Abbas wants from Israel before he agrees to move to face-to-face negotiations that Washington wants the sides to begin.
Continuing the U.S. push to revive the Middle East peace process, President Barack Obama's envoy George Mitchell met Abbas on Saturday in Ramallah. Mitchell, who met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, is mediating indirect peace talks that have been under way for more than two months.
"We are heartened by the discussions that we had here today and in the past several days," Mitchell said in a brief statement to reporters after what he described as a candid and productive meeting in Ramallah.
The United States recognised "the difficulties and the complexities" in trying to realise the vision of comprehensive Middle East peace set out by Obama, Mitchell said.
"But we are determined to continue," he said, adding that he would visit several other countries in the region.
The indirect talks are about halfway through a four-month period agreed by the Palestinian leadership, which is wary of more direct negotiations with an Israeli leader they believe is unwilling to make an offer acceptable to the Palestinians.
Netanyahu says he is ready to begin direct talks with Abbas right away. Speaking after the Ramallah meeting, senior Palestine Liberation Organisation official Yasser Abed Rabbo said the United States must provide more clarity on disputed issues before any advance to direct negotiations.
FAIR LAND SWAP
Speaking to the Jordanian newspaper al-Ghad, Abbas said he wanted Israel to agree "in principle" to the idea that a third party take on a security role in a future Palestinian state to be founded on land occupied by Israel in a 1967 war.
"Now what is required from Israel is for it to say that these ideas are, in principle, acceptable," he said. "That means: do they accept that the land is the 1967 borders and that there be, in the Palestinian land, a third party.
"If they agree to that, this is what we would consider the progress that we want and that would make us go to direct negotiations," he said.
The Palestinians aim to establish their state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as their capital, a demand rejected by Israeli leaders who see all of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish state. Abbas has stated his rejection of any Israeli security role on the frontiers of the Palestinian state. But he has accepted the idea that NATO could play a role on the borders -- a compromise to ease Israeli concerns that the Palestinians would arm themselves heavily if they controlled their frontiers.
Israel, however, wants to maintain a presence in the Jordan valley along the West Bank's eastern border.
Ahead of direct talks, Abbas said, Israel must also agree to the idea of a fair land swap, referring to a scenario where some Israeli land bordering the West Bank would be annexed to a future Palestinian state in compensation for major Jewish West Bank settlement blocs that would become part of Israel.
"We said that the borders must be on the foundation of 1967 with agreement on an equitable swap," he added. Palestinian officials have said they could accept such a swap but the area involved should not exceed 2 percent of the West Bank.
Netanyahu, who met U.S. President Barack Obama last week, has promised "concrete steps" to encourage Abbas to move to direct talks. He has said he is willing to deal with the issue of settlements right away once direct talks begin.
Obama has urged the parties to launch direct talks.
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