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Israel: Resume Negotiations without PA Preconditions

(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - Israel has no intention of acceding to PA leader Mahmoud Abbas' call for a freeze of all construction in West Bank settlements and in east Jerusalem for three months, in order to resume direct negotiations with the PA, a senior Israeli government official said on Monday. "We are not going to accept the Palestinian position on Jerusalem as a condition for entering the talks," the official said. Prime Minister Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev said that for ten months, Israel has consistently called for the resumption of diplomatic negotiations without preconditions, and has taken a whole series of confidence-building measures to make the talks possible. "In the same period of time," Regev remarked, "the Palestinian leadership has unfortunately and consistently refused to re-engage in a political process. One has to ask how does one expect to achieve peace without talking. We are ready to talk, we have been for the last ten moths, and the question is, are they?"
2010-02-02 08:00:17
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