Palestinian PM turns down Netanyahu’s direct talks offer

Ramallah / AFP

Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah on Tuesday dismissed an Israeli proposal for direct negotiations instead of a French multilateral peace initiative, calling it an attempt to “buy time”.
Hamdallah made the comments as he met French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who held talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories this week to push Paris’s peace initiative. “Time is short,” Hamdallah said. “(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is trying to buy time… but this time he will not escape the international community.”
Referring to the 1990s Oslo accords and their aftermath, he said “there have been negotiations for 22 years and they’ve led nowhere.”
Netanyahu has rejected the plan and called for direct negotiations.
Valls told Netanyahu when he met him on Monday that he would discuss his proposal with French President Francois Hollande, but he has insisted that Paris plans to stick with its approach.
The French initiative involves holding a meeting of foreign ministers from a range of countries, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, on June 3, but without the Israelis and Palestinians present.
An international conference would then be held in the autumn, with the Israelis and Palestinians in attendance. The goal is to eventually relaunch negotiations that would lead to a Palestinian state.
Negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has welcomed the French plan, but Netanyahu has repeatedly expressed his opposition while saying he is willing to meet Abbas at any time.