Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli President, Shimon Peres, met on Sunday in Jordan, and discussed the efforts to resume the stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.The meeting was held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Middle East and North Africa.
Peres called on Abbas to “return to the negotiations table with Tel Aviv”, and told him that conflicts can only be resolved in direct peace talks.
He also said that the Israelis and Palestinians need to reach a final status peace agreement based on the two-state solution, where a “Jewish state lives in peace and security next to the Palestinian state”.
On his part, Abbas said that peace can only be achieved with the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state.
Abbas added that Israel must adopt the Arab Peace initiative that offered full normalization between the Arab states and Tel Aviv in return for establishing an independent Palestinian state with clear and acceptable borders, based on the full Israeli withdrawal from all territories it occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem.
“We want to grant solid and real hope to the new generations”, Abbas said, “We are seeking comprehensive peace based on the international legitimacy”.
Also Sunday, King Abdullah of Jordan held a meeting with Abbas, in addition to separate meetings with Peres and U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry.
The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), had to quit direct peace talks with Tel Aviv due to its ongoing invasions and violations, including home demolitions, and the ongoing and escalating settlement construction and expansion activities in the West Bank, including in occupied East Jerusalem.
Tel Aviv also refuses to recognize the internationally guaranteed Right of Return of the Palestinian refugees, and refuses to hold talks on other core issues such as Jerusalem, borders and natural resources.
