The PLO’s man in Washington reiterates that the Palestinians won’t be sitting down with Israel before a complete freeze. From Josh Rogin’s interview in Foreign Policy with Maen Rashid Areikat:
In an exclusive interview with The Cable, the PA’s top man in Washington said that his government did not want to sit down with the Israelis unless there is total settlement freeze and unless all final settlement issues are on the table, including refugees, Jerusalem, settlements, security, water, borders, everything.
The Obama administration’s process-focused strategy misses the mark, he said.
"I’m not saying that we are totally disappointed or that we have given up hope that there will be good preparation for any future resumption of negotiations, but we are making ourselves clear to the administration and others that this time around, it has to be done right. We cannot just get engaged in a process for the sake of a process. That will lead nowhere."
Areikat also rips Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren:
He also criticized his Israeli counterpart Michael Oren, Netanyahu’s ambassador to Washington, for comparing the writers of the Goldstone Report, which accuses Israel of war crimes in Gaza, to Holocaust deniers.
"This notion that accusing everybody who criticizes Israel as being an anti-semite and a Holocaust denier, I think we should go beyond that. These are clichés that we heard in the 70s and the 80s," Areikat said, "I think we should rise up. They are trying to play on the feelings of Jews around the world."
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