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Peace Process

Abbas: Let's have secret talks


By Ryan Jones
October 23, 2005

In a transparent attempt to circumvent his regime's peace obligations, PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas last week suggested Israel and the ?Palestinians? enter into secret final status negotiations.

?I proposed to the Americans the idea of a back channel for negotiations and I hope that they, and the Israelis, are going to accept it,? Abbas told Agence France-Presse Saturday.

He pointed out the Oslo Accords were also the result of covert talks, and hoped Israel and the Arabs could repeat that ?success.?

But a senior Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post Saturday that Israel is not biting.

He said Abbas is clearly trying to bypass his own obligations to disarm and dismantle Hamas and other terrorist organizations, and remove from public scrutiny the fact the ?Palestinians? continue to make demands of Israel despite their own non-compliance with signed agreements.

?A secret negotiations channel is not on the agenda, because its aim is to skip over demands on Palestinians to fight terrorism, as part of the first stage of the Road Map,? the source said.

?This is also the reason that the United States opposes the idea.?

US President George W. Bush reportedly rejected Abbas' request to apply a firm timetable to the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state when the two met in Washington last Thursday.

The Palestinian Authority has long tried to force Israel into final status negotiations, ignoring the fact they have yet to eliminate the threat of anti-Jewish terrorism after more than a decade.

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