U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is expected to hold a meeting with the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, in Abu Dhabi next Saturday. 56970
U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is expected to hold a meeting with the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, in Abu Dhabi next Saturday.
Clinton will be trying to convince Abbas to resume peace talks with Israel amidst Palestinian rejection to resume the talks as long as Israel is ongoing with its illegal settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including in occupied East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian leadership said that Israel should be committed to the Road Map Peace Plan of 2003, but the Israeli leadership, headed by Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, refuses to halt settlement activities and offered a ‘temporary freeze’.
Netanyahu is also demanding the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
Nimir Hammad, adviser to President Abbas, said that the Abbas-Clinton meeting would focus on settlements and the shift in the U.S. stance as the United States initially demanded Israel to freeze all settlement activities to enable the resumption of the peace process, but backed down on this demand.
Hammad added that the Palestinian leadership will not return to the negotiations table without a full freeze on settlement activities.
“This is our position”, he said, “This is what we will tell Clinton”.
Clinton concluded a three-day visit to Pakistan on Friday, and will be heading to the Emirates on Saturday to meet Abbas.
Clinton is expected to hold a meeting with Netanyahu on Saturday evening.
