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Israel, Palestinians, place onus for talks on other side

Israel Materials 22 August 2010 20:22 (UTC +04:00)
Israelis and Palestinians each placed the onus for fruitful peace negotiations on the other side Sunday, with Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israel needed a "real partner" for peace, and Saeb Erekat warning that the upcoming talks were a test for the Jewish state, dpa reported.
Israel, Palestinians, place onus for talks on other side

Israelis and Palestinians each placed the onus for fruitful peace negotiations on the other side Sunday, with Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israel needed a "real partner" for peace, and Saeb Erekat warning that the upcoming talks were a test for the Jewish state, dpa reported.

Commenting on the proposed negotiations, announced Friday by the US and the EU, Netanyahu told his cabinet Sunday morning that the talks required both sides to take the necessary steps, "and not just the Israelis side and not just the Palestinian side."

"If we find that we have a genuine partner on the Palestinian side, an honest and serious negotiating partner ... if we find such a partner, we can soon reach a historic peace agreement between the two peoples," he said at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu said three elements were necessary for the talks to succeed: Reliable and genuine security arrangements for Israel on the ground, recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, and an end to the conflict between the two peoples.

"We are talking about a peace treaty between Israel and a demilitarized Palestinian state," he said.

"This state will be established at the end of the process .. and is supposed to end the conflict and not be the basis for its continuation by other means."

Announcing the invitation Friday for Israelis and Palestinians to renew direct peace talks on September 2, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the negotiations would be aimed at resolving "all final status issues" in order to reach a final resolution of the decades-long Middle East conflict.

A parallel announcement by the so-called Quartet of the US, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union, said the talks could be completed within one year.

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat, however, warned Sunday that the upcoming talks were a test for Israel.

If you want to prove you want peace, now is the test," he said in an interview with Israel Army Radio.

"If Netanyahu decides to continue building settlements on the lands of 1967 (the West Bank), then the talks cannot continue. This is a very clear position," he added.

On Friday night, shortly after the Palestinian announcement welcoming the start of the talks, Erekat said the Palestinian Authority would not be able to continue the negotiations if Israel issued more settlement construction tenders after September 26, the end date of a partial 10-month freeze on construction in Israeli West Bank settlements.

Netanyahu announced the moratorium last November, following months of US pressure. The freeze excluded public buildings and did not include building in East Jerusalem, to the chagrin of the Palestinians.

In the interview on Sunday, however, Erekat said he believed Netanyahu was a peace partner for the Palestinians and that "if he has to chose between occupation or reconciliation, he will choose reconciliation."

Negotiations between the two sides have been started and halted many times in the last decade. The last incarnation of direct talks began at the end of 2007 and was suspended in late 2008 as Israel headed into an election campaign that brought Netanyahu to power.

Indirect peace talks got underway in spring this year, with US envoy George Mitchell shuttling the short distance between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

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