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Palestinian Authority Chair Mahmoud Abbas’ nullification of any previous agreements with Israel at the UN this week did not dampen the Quartet’s misguided determination to restart the peace process.
Notwithstanding Palestinian Authority Chair Mahmoud Abbas’ ongoing refusal to enter into direct talks with Israel, his frequent incitement to violence and, most notably, his annulment of previous agreements with Israel in his address at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, the Quartet (the European Union, UN, Russia and the US) is intent on resuming negotiations towards a two-state solution.
“We have decided to work together…on concrete steps on the ground in the absence of the peace process in the Middle East…,” EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini stated on Wednesday. “The crisis that has been there for decades, out of all the crises in front of us, is the one that is still possible to solve.”
The US State Department, in an official statement on Wednesday, said: “The Quartet Envoys will engage directly with the parties in order to explore concrete actions both sides can take to demonstrate their genuine commitment to pursuing a two-State solution, including encouraging efforts to agree on significant steps, consistent with prior agreements, that benefit Israelis and Palestinians. The envoys will also build on their outreach to regional States and international partners to examine how they may contribute to a comprehensive resolution of the conflict and will report back to the Quartet Principals.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry led the failed Israeli-PA negotiations. (AP/Andrew Harnik)
The failed US-led peace negotiations, which lasted nine months, collapsed in April 2014. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly invited Abbas to resume talks.
In response to Abbas’ address, which ignored any Jewish connection to the Holy Land but included historical and political distortions and lies, Netanyahu said that the PA leader’s speech was “deceitful and encourages incitement and lawlessness in the Middle East.”
Mogherini, however, said that after listening “very carefully” to Abbas’ speech, she believes that Israel should take “concrete steps on the ground to implement agreements that are already there.”
“I interpreted his [Abbas’s] words as a scenario that is going to happen if – and there is an if. Now on that ‘if’, we will have to work, she said, calling on the Palestinians “to engage in national reconciliation and direct negotiations.”
“What has already been agreed can be implemented. Just do it,” Mogherini said, despite Abbas’ declaration of the peace accords as null and void.
Meeting with Mogherini Wednesday evening, Times of Israel reports, Netanyahu, apparently referring to the upswing in boycott activities against Israel, “expressed his unhappiness with the European Union’s trend to mark products from [Judea and Samaria] settlements,” a Prime Minister’s Office statement said early Thursday.
“The prime minister said and explained that this development symbolizes for many Israelis dark days in Europe and is poorly received in domestic Israeli public opinion,” the statement added.
By: United with Israel Staff
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