Israel

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Palestinian Leaders Reject Making Further Concessions to Boost U.S.-Backed Peace Talks

The Palestinian Authority (PA) issued a statement on Wednesday declaring that Palestinian leaders will refuse to make further concessions, after several months in which top Palestinian officials repeatedly rejected efforts by Secretary of State Kerry to achieve such a deal.

The Palestinian Authority said in a statement Wednesday, “It is important for you to know Mr. President that there is nothing left that we can make concessions on. Don’t be partners with Netanyahu in order to put us in a corner, because the choices before us are limited and clear. Is this what you want?”

“After twenty years of negotiations you have not been convinced that Israel isn’t interested in real peace, and the dream of peace is slowly fading away, and in its place pessimism is taking over, and the two-state solution is evaporating.”

At stake are reported promises made by Obama to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Obama is said to have told the Israeli leader that he would eventually balance widely criticized anti-Israel broadsides recently published in a Bloomberg interview with pressure on PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Obama had given the interview – described by veteran observers as a “bombshell battering” – on the eve of his meeting with Netanyahu this week.

The President’s statements reportedly generated substantial tension [Hebrew] with the State Department in general and with Secretary of State Kerry in particular, with Obama being accused of having sabotaged Kerry’s peace efforts. A source told the Israeli outlet Ma’ariv that “Kerry’s big fear is that [Obama’s] interview harmed the trust of Netanyahu and that of Israeli public opinion in the U.S. administration’s efforts.”

[Photo:  cliff1066™ / Flickr]