Abd Rabbo: Real negotiations have not even started

Yasser Abd Rabbo, the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, has said that US Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrives today to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas to talk about the peace process, “will deliver only promises”.

Commenting on Kerry’s visit to the Palestinian territories and Israel, as well as responding to the rumours that the visit is meant to prevent the collapse of the negotiations, Abd Rabbo told official Palestinian radio that although preventing the collapse of the political process might be the official reason behind Kerry’s visit to the region, the political process and the negotiations do not actually exist.

The senior Palestinian official said that the Palestinian side is waiting to see what Kerry brings to the table, but he predicted that “he will only be offering the same repeated promises about a political breakthrough that is going to be achieved in a few months.”

Abd Rabbo denied the existence of a Palestinian agreement for allowing Israel to continue with its settlement expansion project in the context of the negotiations process, describing the remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on this matter as “allegations”.

“The world is boycotting the settlements and yet they claim that the owners of the occupied Palestinian lands would allow the settlement process?” he questioned.

Abd Rabbo declared that the only way to resolve the Palestinian issue is to go through the UN Security Council to demand “prompt action against Israel and its violations”.