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Erekat: Abbas To Meet Israeli Vice PM In Ramallah
(Ma'an) -- President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... will meet Israeli Vice Premier Shaul Mofaz in Ramallah on Sunday but the talks will not entail negotiations, PLO official Saeb Erekat ...negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. He has been chief Paleostinian negotiator since 1995. He is currently negotiating with Israel to establish a de jure Paleostinian state... said Thursday. "We do not want to raise expectations or lower them. This is not a negotiation meeting," Erekat told Voice of Paleostine radio. Erekat said the meeting was arranged at Mofaz's request, but said negotiations were the responsibility of Israel's prime minister and official negotiating teams. A front man for Mofaz would not confirm or deny that a meeting had been arranged, but he did say there was ongoing contact with Abbas' office toward setting up such an event. Mofaz told news hounds this month that he intended to meet Abbas "to examine ways to restart peace negotiations with the Paleostinians". Mofaz, head of Israel's centrist Kadima party, joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition in May to form one of the biggest coalitions in Israeli history, a move that commentators said could give Netanyahu a freer hand to seek peace with the Paleostinians. Negotiations between Israel and the PLO broke down in late 2010 after Netanyahu refused to extend a partial freeze on illegal settlement building on occupied Paleostinian land. The PLO has demanded a halt to the construction before talks resume, but Israel says the settlements issue should be resolved in negotiations. Posted by: trailing wife 2012-06-29 |
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