RAMALLAH, West Bank: Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said yesterday that Israel’s new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “does not believe in peace” and urged world leaders to pile pressure on him.
“Benjamin Netanyahu never believed in a two-state solution or accepted signed agreements and does not want to stop settlement activity. This is obvious,” Abbas told the official Palestinian news agency.
“We have to tell the world that this man does not believe in peace, so how should we deal with him? Let’s put the ball in the world’s court so that it puts pressure on him and assumes its responsibilities.”
Abbas’ remarks came hours after Netanyahu was sworn in as prime minister at the helm of an extreme right-wing government that has said it will hold talks with the Palestinians but is not committed to the two-state solution.
“We will carry out peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority with a view to reaching a final accord,” Netanyahu said Tuesday.
“Under the final accord, the Palestinians will have all the rights to govern themselves except those that can put in danger the security and existence of the state of Israel,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority said Netanyahu’s statements “mark a start that is not encouraging” and urged US President Barack Obama — who has vowed to actively pursue peace talks — to put pressure on Israel.
“The American administration should pressure the Netanyahu government to stick to the fundamentals of the peace process, in other words land for peace. This means the restitution of all the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem,” Abbas’ spokesman said Tuesday.
The Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip, which weathered a massive Israeli offensive at the turn of the year, insisted there was “no difference between the governments of the Zionist entity (Israel) ... because all of them have killed and slaughtered our people.”
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who stepped down in March, said yesterday he would remain in office until the end of unity talks between Hamas and Fatah in Egypt. “My staying in office comes from a desire not to create a constitutional void,” Fayyad told AFP.
The US-educated Fayyad announced on March 7 that he had submitted his resignation to pave the way for a “national consensus” between warring Fatah and Hamas, saying he would remain in office until the end of March.
