Amidst speculations that U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, would organize a direct meeting with Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli sources have reported that Kerry will be back in the region for a new round of talks this coming Thursday.Israeli Ynet News stated that a senior Palestinian source said that it is unlikely that Kerry will be able to bring Israel and the Palestinians to the negotiations table without preconditions.
Last week, the Central committee of the Fateh Movement of President Mahmoud Abbas, held a meeting to discuss the possibility of resuming direct peace talks with Tel Aviv, but could not reach a decision and expressed rejection to international pressures regarding the resumption of direct talks “without preconditions”.
The Committee said that peace talks could be resumed should Israel stop its illegal settlement activities, and officially recognize the two-state solution based on a full withdrawal from all of the occupied territories, and the release all Palestinian detainees held prior to the Oslo peace agreements.
The Ynet said that Israeli sources believe that peace talks will eventually be restarted, but expressed doubts on the odds of success.
According to the Ynet, President Abbas told foreign officials that he does not object to a meeting with Netanyahu in order to resume talks.
Meanwhile, Political Analyst of the Israeli TV, Channel 10, stated that “it seems U.S. pressures on Abbas yielded some results as Abbas expressed interest in resuming direct talks.”
According to the Analyst, Kerry told Abbas that Netanyahu expressed readiness for a partial freeze of settlement activities in large settlement blocks, and to the release of Palestinian political prisoners.
According to Channel 10, Abbas does not want tension with the United States, and does not want to the one “who keeps saying no to American initiatives”.
