Top Palestinian negotiator meets US Secretary of State

Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat met in Washington with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday to discuss Palestinian-Israeli relations and the latest developments in the region after Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip.

Anadolu news agency quoted spokesperson of the US State Department Jen Psaki as saying that Kerry met with Erekat on Wednesday afternoon, as well as with the chief of the Palestinian intelligence services, Majed Faraj, for about two hours. During their meeting they discussed Palestinian-Israeli relations and the latest developments in the region.

Psaki also reportedly said the two sides agreed on resuming the US-brokered Palestinian-Israeli negotiations in the coming weeks.

Previously, an informed Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had told Anadolu that Erekat was planning to propose a Palestinian initiative based on putting a timeline to ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands occupied in 1967, including east Jerusalem.

The source added: “The plan will be passed by the American side and when the Americans and the Israelis refuse it, the Palestinian Authority will turn to the UN Security Council to approve the plan. In the case that the US vetoes the resolution, Palestine will join dozens of international treaties and conventions, including the International Criminal Court.”

Ignoring all international and regional efforts to resolve the Palestine-Israel conflict, the Israeli government decided on Sunday to appropriate an additional 4,000 dunams of Palestinian lands to build another illegal Israeli settlement next to the Gush Etzion settlements in occupied Hebron.

This decision sparked an international wave of criticism. Even the US demanded for the Israeli government to abandon the land grab, but apparently to little effect.