Speaking to the Israeli Knesset Foreign and Security Committee on Tuesday, head of the Israeli Security Agency (Shabak), Yuram Cohen, stated that Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, does not really believe that reaching a peace agreement with Israel is possible, the Arabs48 News Website has reported.Israeli daily, Maariv, quoted Knesset Members (MK), who attended the session, stating that Cohen said that “less and less Palestinians believe in the possibility of a positive political process with Israel”.
Cohen also said that Abbas has nothing to gain from resuming peace talks with the current Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu, and added that Abbas was in a better position during previous peace talks with Israel.
He said that Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (P.A) in the West Bank insist on implementing “vows made by former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert”, and added that, as far as the Palestinians are concerned, the starting point of any future talks is what Abbas and Olmert discussed back then.
“Abbas has nothing to gain from talks with Israel, Abbas will only lose in any talks with the current Israeli government, he was in a better condition in previous talks with Israel”, Cohen said, “The Palestinian leader always carries vows he got from former Israeli officials, cannot enter realistic talks with current Israeli officials; this means that there is no one on the Israeli side who would talk to him”.
Furthermore, Cohen said that the Palestinian Authority of Abbas in the West Bank is strong “but could be toppled in the future”, and added that Abu Mazin (Abbas) is currently in a crisis.
“Should the Palestinians move to elections, Abbas will lose his seat”, Cohen stated, “Reconciliation between Fateh movement of Abbas, and the Hamas movement is expected to boost the power of Hamas, this could lead Abu Mazin to lose his seat, or even his life, therefore, reconciliation with Hamas is not a top priority to him”.
Cohen also referred to increasing Palestinian attacks against Israeli targets, and added that the situation in the occupied territories is currently “unstable”.
It is worth mentioning that Maariv quoted a spokesperson of Cohen the latter made such statements to the Knesset Foreign and Security Committee.
