Putin Wants to Host Israeli-Palestinian Talks

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told journalists in Egypt that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him he is ready to host direct talks between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Sisi said that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is the key to stability in the region. Netanyahu has repeatedly said he is willing to meet Abbas “anywhere, anytime” for direct talks. At the same time, Israeli officials say that Palestinians must first mend the rift between Abbas’s Fatah movement, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, so that Palestinians can speak with one voice. Repeated efforts to do this over the past few years have failed, although both Fatah and Hamas say they will participate in municipal elections scheduled for October. There have been no substantive Israeli – Palestinian peace negotiations for years, and Palestinians say that Israel continues to expand its presence in the West Bank, which is the area they say must become the future Palestinian state. An estimated 370,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with 200,000 in east Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed.
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