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New York: Palestinian leaders have responded
to Israeli calls for resumption of direct negotiations, saying
Israel must accept certain terms before talks can restart.
"[Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu has to accept all
terms of reference and stop settlement activity including [in]
east Jerusalem, to enter negotiations immediately with [a]
timeframe not to exceed six months [and] with international
guarantees to make any negotiations serious and credible," Al Jazeera
TV quoted Riyad
al-Maliki, the Palestinian foreign minister.
Al-Maliki is currently in New York as part of the PLO delegation
to attend the UN General Assembly.
His statement came in response to Netanyahu's call for a meeting
in New York this week with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian
president, to relaunch "direct negotiations".
However, Abbas has always maintained the position that
negotiations should resume after the UN bid and that the two are
not exclusive.
The Israeli prime minister's call for negotiations came as Abbas
prepared to submit a request for Palestinian statehood in the
world body in a move staunchly opposed by Israel and the US.
"The prime minister is interested in a meeting with the president
of the Palestinian Authority in New York," Netanyahu's office said
in a statement.
"I call on the president of the Palestinian Authority to open up
direct negotiations in New York and that they resume in Jerusalem
and in Ramallah," it added.
Israel and the US insist that only direct negotiations can resolve
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Netanyahu, who flies to New York on Tuesday, is due to hold talks
a day later with Barack Obama, the US president, and will address
the General Assembly on Friday, the day Abbas has said he will
submit his request for Palestinian membership in the world body.
The US has already announced it will use its veto to block the
Palestinian bid in the Security Council.
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