Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday he was ready to engage with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a Middle East peace agreement if he proposes \”anything promising or positive.\”
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad refused to attend a scheduled meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Palestinian prime minister plans to use a rare meeting set for Tuesday with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a letter detailing Palestinian grievances on stalled peace talks.
The Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers will meet later this month, officials said on Wednesday, but the rare talks may only sharpen differences that have brought peace negotiations to a standstill.
The leaders of rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a deal in Qatar on Monday to form a unity government of independent technocrats for the West Bank and Gaza, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel to make some positive moves toward the Palestinians in order to bring them back to the negotiating table.
Peace prospects with the Palestinians are looking poor, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday after exploratory talks aimed at relaunching negotiations ended in deadlock.
Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators will hold their second round of face-to-face talks within a week on Monday in Amman, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas agreed to hold elections next May and are due to establish a caretaker government in the coming weeks which will exclude Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Palestinian sources said Tuesday.
The United Nations Security Council could not arrive at a consensus on the Palestinians\’ statehood bid, a draft report from the panel reportedly says.
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