351
Itongadol.- U.S. President Barack Obama has invited Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet with him in Washington, officials in Ramallah said Monday.
The Palestinian officials said that the meeting was due to take place sometime after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own talks with Obama in early March. An exact date has not yet been set, but the invitation was received by the Muqata, the Palestinian Authority\’s headquarters in Ramallah.
Given the lack of progress in the peace talks with Israel, there had been some expectation in Ramallah that such an invitation would be forthcoming.
Haaretz has learned that despite the pessimism felt by the Palestinians after the most recent round of talks between Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris last week, another round was scheduled to take place next week between the Palestinians and Kerry’s team.
Abbas said following last week\’s discussions that theAmerican diplomacy had failed so far to obtain a framework agreement that could serve as the basis for negotiations and a peace accord.
A senior Palestinian official told Haaretz on Monday that the Palestinian leadership was very discouraged and sensed a regression with respect to all of Washington’s key positions.
“We don’t know what will happen in the coming weeks, but it’s impossible to talk about optimism, not even cautious optimism. Yes, Kerry has not yet presented any document and everything is still just ideas, but these ideas do not come close to the Palestinian position and cannot form the basis for a future agreement,” said the official.
Arab and Palestinian press have reported over the last few days that the Obama administration was heavily pressuring Abbas over the issue of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. Based on the declarations being made by him and other PA officials, there is no Palestinian agreement on this subject.