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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israelis And Palestinians Held Secret Back Channel Talks -- Report |
| 2014-11-27 |
| [IsraelTimes] Israel and the Paleostinians engaged in secret backchannel negotiations that made breakthroughs on major issues during last year's peace talks, but the efforts fell apart after it became clear the Paleostinian negotiator didn't have the backing of Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , according to a report published Wednesday. According to The New Republic, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's close associate Yitzhak Molcho met with an unnamed Paleostinian confidante of Abbas during the 2013-2014 American-moderated peace talks and held secret side negotiations. What Israeli officials weren't aware of at the time was that the backchannel talks apparently took place without Abbas's support. Contacts between Molcho and the Paleostinian negotiator, whose name wasn't published by the US magazine for fear of reprisal, began in 2010. According to the report, during the 2013 meetings, the two built upon understandings previously reached on borders and Paleostinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. The two negotiators were reportedly close to reaching an understanding on the Paleostinian refugee issue, but couldn't break ground on the sticking point of Jerusalem's status in a final agreement. Netanyahu's office declined to comment on the report to The Times of Israel. US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... , Obama's Middle East envoy Martin Indyk, and chief Israeli negotiator and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni were all aware of the secret channel and received regular briefings while they took place, the report said. As the two sides were close to reaching an agreement on key issues in December 2013, wind of the talks reached the press. While Netanyahu's team declined comment, Abbas denied there being secret negotiations and said that the the official talks were the "the only channel of communication I have with Netanyahu." When Kerry tried to merge the official and secret negotiation tracks in early 2014, "Abbas completely rejected what had already, supposedly, been accepted by his own negotiator," the report said. According to the magazine, Abbas's rejection of the side channel, and Netanyahu's refusal to budge from what Molho and the Paleostinian negotiator agreed to, played a role in the collapse of talks in April, after nine months of negotiations. "Netanyahu is angry at Kerry for opening up understandings that everybody considered a done deal, just because Abbas had changed his mind," a minister was quoted as telling the magazine while talks were still ongoing. |
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