Abbas impatient to resume unconditional talks with Israel

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas hopes to resume unconditional talks with Israel as soon as possible, a senior PA official informed Israel Hayom.

On Friday, the Israeli outlet reported a senior PA official stating that Abbas is enthusiastic: “To resume negotiations with Israel as soon as possible through American mediation and without preconditions.”

The official argued that Abbas is planning to take advantage of the fact that President-elect Joe Biden’s administration has not yet formulated a clear vision of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to the official, if the Biden administration became preoccupied with other issues, it would place the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the bottom of its agenda. As a result, it could take months before making any progress.

“The goal is to strike while the iron is hot and resume negotiations without delay,” the official confirmed.

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He stated that:

The new Biden administration has a lot on its plate. It has internal problems to resolve, it has to come up with a policy about the Iran nuclear deal and restore its relationship with China and the European Union.

Abbas is afraid that any delay in the peace process could give Israel the chance to perpetuate the current situation – expanding settlements and building new ones.

This message, according to the official, was sent by Abbas to Washington through the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, with whom Abbas met in Doha.

Israeli-PA talks stalled in April 2014 when Israel refused to stop settlement construction and release a batch of veteran Palestinian prisoners.

When Biden won the US presidential elections on 3 November, 2020, Palestinian officials declared that they would be ready to resume talks under US auspices.

On 17 November, 2020, the PA turned its back on all Palestinian factions that were close to reaching a national unity agreement and announced the resumption of security coordination with Israel.

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