PA president: Obama should use his power to pressure Israel on settlements.
By JPOST.COM STAFFMahmoud abbas 311 187(photo credit: AP)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said he is unhappy about the change in American policy toward settlement construction.In an interview published Sunday by Der Spiegel, Abbas told the German magazine he would not change his position and would not agree to resuming negotiations unless Israel completely halts construction in West Bank settlements and recognizes the 1967 borders.“These are not preconditions, but the first stages in realizing theRoad Map and they should have been taken long ago. Unlike Israel, we stood upto our commitment – we recognized Israel’s right to exist and we arecombating violent groups. It is now Israel’s turn,” Abbas said.Abbasexpressed his disappointment that as the president of the “strongestcountry in the world,” Barack Obama was not doing more to pressureIsrael.The PA president also revealed that he had an activeengagement with former prime minister Ehud Olmert, saying “we didn’treject his offer, he simply stepped down before we reached the finalpart of the negotiations. His successor, Tzipi Livni, did not becomeprime minister and that’s why we never reached an agreement.”Abbassaid there was no point for him to run for president again, since “theway to a diplomatic solution is blocked… but I urge the countries ofthe world: don’t let the Palestinians descend to a state of utterdesperation.”
