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The Resumption of Direct Talks between Israel and the Palestinians
(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will relaunch direct negotiations in Washington, in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Israel welcomes the U.S. invitation to resume direct talks with the PA, without preconditions, having called for direct negotiations for a year and a half. From Israel's perspective, a workable peace agreement should address three basic principles: security, recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and a complete end to the conflict. Israel needs concrete security arrangements on the ground, in order to prevent rocket-launchings from the West Bank towards the center of the country, as occurred after Israel evacuated Gaza. It's vital that any future Palestinian state be demilitarized, and that the peace agreement include an Israeli presence on the Palestinian state's eastern border. For Israel, it is essential that the Palestinians recognize Israel's legitimacy as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Israelis will be asking themselves what sort of peace is being offered if their neighbors still consider them an illegitimate part of the region. Israel calls upon its Palestinian partners to stop their campaign of anti-Israeli incitement and delegitimization, and to instead, educate their people towards peace. The PA can cease to ignore the existence of the State of Israel in their textbooks and school curricula, stop promoting the veneration of terrorists who murdered innocent Israeli civilians, end preaching the mass return of Palestinian refugees to Israeli cities, and remove all anti-Semitic expressions in the media and in their educational and religious institutions.