RAMALLAH: Palestinian politicians rebuffed yesterday a hard-fought blueprint for resumed talks with Israel thrashed out by US Secretary of State John Kerry in a blow to his marathon peace efforts.
A US official had warned that Kerry was unlikely to be able to announce any breakthrough on resuming direct peace negotiations with the Palestinians despite extending until Friday his sixth visit to the region in as many months.
The setback for the US plan came from the governing Revolutionary Council of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s own Fatah movement, which demanded changes.
The broader Palestine Liberation Organisation, which also includes left wing factions less sympathetic towards a compromise, said it would meet soon to draw up a formal response to Kerry’s proposals.
Palestinian member of parliament Mustafa Barghuti said “most factions” within the PLO had rejected Kerry’s proposal. “During the leadership meeting... most of the Palestinian factions... rejected restarting peace talks based on Kerry’s proposals,” he said.
PLO executive committee member Wasel Abu Yusef said the Palestinian leadership had “decided to form a committee to respond to Kerry’s proposals”.
“Kerry did not present guarantees to stop settlement building, nor base (peace talks) on 1967 borders,” he said. Kerry’s plan would have seen Israel, now ruled by a coalition that has tilted sharply to the right after elections early this year, make only a tacit commitment to slow settlement construction in the occupied territories, not the publicly announced freeze long demanded by Abbas.
On Wednesday, the US envoy had expressed cautious optimism that he was making progress towards a deal to restart talks after his proposals were endorsed by Arab League chief Nabil Al Arabi and senior Gulf Arab diplomats.
Agencies
