Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said Israel must accept the deployment of an international force in a future Palestinian state before direct talks can begin, in an interview published on Saturday.
“Israel must accept that the Palestinian territory in question be that of the 1967 borders and with the presence of a third party,” he told Jordan’s Al-Ghad newspaper, referring to the 1967 Six-Day War.
“We will consider this as the desired progress and this will push us to embark on direct negotiations,” Abbas said.
Al-Ghad said Abbas was referring to a security accord sealed under former Israeli premier Ehud Olmert calling for the presence of an international force to guard the Palestinian territories, excluding Israel.
“This is the accord and I believe that Jordan and Egypt were aware of it and gave their approval in principle,” said Abbas.
In the West Bank town of Ramallah, Abbas held a three-hour meeting on Saturday with visiting US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, part of a sixth round of indirect talks with Israel.
The Palestinians have demanded a complete freeze of Israeli settlements ahead of any face-to-face peace talks and have accused Israel of undermining the process by approving new settler homes in mostly Arab east Jerusalem.
No clarity
“Until now there is no clarity in the [US] position on a number of issues, especially those related to moving into final status talks,” senior Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo told reporters in the West Bank.
“The three-hour meeting between Abbas and Mitchell was important but there are several issues, most important among them the settlements and the situation in Jerusalem, that need more clarity,” Abed Rabbo said.
As with previous visits, Mitchell declined to discuss the details of the talks, saying only that it was a “very productive” meeting and that United States President Barack Obama remained committed to a two-state peace deal.
Earlier this month, during a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama said he hoped to see direct talks begin before a partial moratorium on West Bank settlements ends in September.
But Abed Rabbo insisted “the timing is not as important as the foundation of the peace process”.
The Palestinians reluctantly agreed to launch indirect peace talks in May after suspending the last round of direct negotiations during the 2008-2009 Gaza war.
Photographers wounded
Two Palestinian news photographers were hospitalised on Saturday after being attacked by Israeli troops during a weekly protest in the occupied West Bank, one of them said.
An Agence France-Presse photographer said a soldier hit him in the face and leg with a baton and that another photographer lost his hearing after a stun grenade exploded near his head.
The two were covering a weekly demonstration against Israel’s controversial separation barrier attended by dozens of Palestinian, foreign and Israeli activists near the southern West Bank town of Beit Umar, outside of Hebron.
An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment directly on the two journalists being wounded, saying only that security forces had dispersed 40 “rioters” who had entered a closed military zone and thrown rocks at them.
“Anyone who chooses to be present in close proximity to conflict areas or violent incidents does so at his or her own risk,” he added.
Weekly demonstrations have multiplied across the West Bank in recent years and frequently see Palestinian youths hurling stones at Israeli troops, who fire tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the gatherings. – AFP