ISRAEL-ELECTION/ABBAS With 'no-state' pledge, Netanyahu reignites Palestine debate

Record ID: 399350

  • Title: ISRAEL-ELECTION/ABBAS With 'no-state' pledge, Netanyahu reignites Palestine debate
  • Date: 19th March 2015
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (MARCH 19, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MEETING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS SAYING: "Therefore, we will not backtrack from our positions in demanding that the international legitimacy be achieved and also we have the right to go anywhere in the world to ensure the right is achieved and that international legitimacy is fulfille
  • Embargoed: 3rd April 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9IRFQ5HQE3DZXED1F8IYARW9E
  • Story Text: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday (March 19) he was worried over Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opposition to a Palestinian state, which he expressed a day before his victory in Israel's general election.
    Netanyahu's declaration was a sweeping statement that flew in the face of his own past commitments and 25 years of international efforts to arrive at a two-state solution to the conflict: Israel and an independent Palestine living side-by-side.
    The last round of peace talks broke down in April 2014, and Netanyahu has said repeatedly that he did not not see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has struck a unity deal with Hamas Islamists, as a partner for peace.
    As long as Abbas remains in power - he was elected in 2005 and should have faced re-election in 2009 - that situation is unlikely to change.
    If the Palestinian leadership changes - Abbas has talked about elections but no dates have been set - Netanyahu would find himself under intense pressure to reengage. But for now, even U.S. diplomats acknowledge that getting Abbas and Netanyahu back together to negotiate is highly improbable.
    Instead, Netanyahu's dismissal of a two-state solution will encourage the Palestinians to again seek recognition via the United Nations as well as bilaterally - 135 of 193 U.N. members already recognise the State of Palestine, including several EU member states but not the EU itself as an organisation.
    "We will not backtrack from our positions in demanding that the international legitimacy be achieved and also we have the right to go anywhere in the world to ensure the right is achieved and that international legitimacy is fulfilled," Abbas said on Thursday in a meeting of Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) officials in Ramallah, adding that Netanyahu's words were worrying but not new.
    For the Palestinians, Netanyahu's intransigence - and his honest acknowledgment that he doesn't want a Palestinian state - may end up bolstering their cause while further isolating Israel internationally, particularly among its chief trading partners, the European Union and United States.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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