Netanyahu shuns peace because he wants another intifada,’ Abbas tells Meretz MKs
By ARIK BENDER/J.Post/08/02/2015/Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is shunning Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in peace talks “because he wants another intifada,” the Palestinian leader charged on Sunday. Abbas said that despite the horrific arson attack in the village of Duma on Friday, his security forces will continue to coordinate their activities with Israel while working to prevent any acts of vengeance. A delegation of lawmakers from the dovish Meretz Party received reassurances from Abbas in Ramallah on Sunday that as long as he was in charge, his regime would make every effort to prevent terrorism against Israelis.”The attack in Duma was a crime against humanity,” the Palestinian leader was quoted as telling the Meretz members. “We cannot say this was a crime committed by a crazy man. We need to view this as a terrorist attack. Condemnations and expressions of sorrow are not enough. There need to be genuine steps taken [by Israel] against terrorists who burn families.”
Meretz chair Zehava Gal-On said she spoke on behalf of the Israeli public in expressing its “shock” over the attack. Abbas then proceeded to criticize Netanyahu, accusing the Israeli leader of refusing to engage in sincere peace talks. “Why does Netanyahu say there is no partner for peace?” Abbas said. “Is it because he has no interest in peace? His best weapon is the intifada.” Abbas told the Meretz lawmakers that Ramallah is opposed to a boycott of Israel proper. Instead, it seeks a boycott of the settlements, the Palestinian leader said.
“What do you want me to do?” Abbas told a group of MKs. “As long as I’m sitting in this chair, I will not allow harm to come to Israelis. I will continue fighting terrorism and violence with all my might.” The Palestinian leader told his Israeli guests that the PA’s security apparatus was “keeping its eyes open during this tense time” – just two days after the arson attack by suspected Jewish extremists that killed a Palestinian toddler near Nablus. “As long as I’m here, there won’t be an Islamic State or a Nusra Front [in the West Bank],” he said. Abbas told the Meretz delegation that his advanced age needs to be factored into the regional calculus. “Time is running out,” he said. “I’m 80 years old. As long as I’m here, the authority will continue to act against attempts to harm Jews.”Nonetheless, Abbas said that Israel’s continued settlement activity poses a problem.
“Sometimes I dream that I wake up in the morning and find a settlement right here in the Muqata,” he said. “What possibilities are we left with [if building continues]?”Abbas told the Meretz MKs of a meeting he briefly held with Interior Minister Silvan Shalom.
“[Palestinian chief negotiator] Saeb Erekat asked me to meet with Silvan Shalom,” Abbas said. “I told him that the way I see it, ahlan wasahlan, I’m willing to meet with anyone, even [Naftali] Bennett.”The Meretz delegation included Gal-On as well as other senior party officials, among them former MK Mussi Raz. Esawi Frej, the lone Arab lawmaker in the Meretz faction, described an atmosphere of “desperation.” “The meeting today was a difficult one,” Frej said. “There was desperation in the air, an understanding that we are approaching the point in time in which it will be too late [for a two-state solution].”
“Abu Mazen (Abbas’ nom de guerre) is doing all he can to maintain quiet, but he told us of his fear that if Israel is not quick to act, it is uncertain that it will have someone to work with once he is gone,” he said. “Freezing of settlements and releasing the fourth tranche of Palestinian prisoners as Israel had promised is not a steep price for exploiting what is perhaps the final opportunity to return to the negotiating table,” Frej said. “Unfortunately, Abu Mazen gives off the impression of a partner, but he has no partner on the other side.”
“The Netanyahu government doesn’t really want to talk,” he said. “It’s not really ready to make the concessions that can lead to calm, and this reality is sad and deflating.”
Kerry tries to bolster Egyptian ties damaged after Morsi ouster
By REUTERS/J.Post/08/02/2015/The United States and Egypt are returning to a “stronger base” in their relationship despite tensions and concerns over human rights, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday at the first strategic dialogue between the two sides since 2009. US-Egyptian relations cooled considerably after Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted in 2013 by the military amid mass protests against his rule. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri told a joint news conference with Kerry in Cairo that his country had no major disagreements with the United States but that there were “differences in points of view over some issues, which is natural.”
Despite US concerns about Egypt’s lagging democratic reforms, Cairo remains one of its closest security allies in the Middle East, an increasingly crucial role in a region beset by turmoil in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya. Kerry said the talks had tackled increased cooperation on border security with neighbouring Libya. Islamic State militants have exploited a power vacuum in Libya to gain a foothold there, creating worries of a potential spillover of violence. Earlier this year, Islamic State militants in Libya beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians, prompting Egyptian air strikes on militant targets. Kerry also said he and Shukri had agreed on the importance of ensuring “free, fair and transparent” parliamentary elections due by the end of the year after long delays. While Washington has prized former general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led Morsi’s overthrow and was elected to succeed him, for the stability he has brought to Egypt, it has also cautiously criticised Egypt’s human rights record and a crackdown on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
The Egyptian government says the Brotherhood is a threat to national security and denies all allegations of abuse, but its crackdown has extended to liberal activists and journalists. A Cairo court on Sunday postponed giving its verdict in the retrial of Al Jazeera television journalists accused of aiding a terrorist organisation, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood. Shukri said no journalists in Egypt were in jail over their reporting. A prison census conducted by the Committee to Protect Journalists on June 1 which found at least 18 Egyptian journalists were being held in jail for reasons related to their reporting.A government source at the time said that the numbers were not accurate.
EXPAND SECURITY RELATIONSHIP
Cairo and Washington said they had also agreed to explore opportunities to expand a security relationship. Earlier this year, US President Barack Obama lifted a hold on a supply of arms to Cairo, authorising deliveries of US weapons valued at over $1.3 billion.
The United States delivered eight F-16 Block 52 aircraft to Egypt last week. Egypt has been fighting an insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula that has killed hundreds of soldiers and police since Morsi’s removal.
The most active group is Sinai Province, an affiliate of Islamic State. Kerry also said a nuclear deal between world powers and Iran agreed last month would make the region safer. “There can be absolutely no question that the Vienna plan, if implemented, will make Egypt and all the countries of this region safer than they otherwise would be,” Kerry said.
