Welcomes French initiative for international peace conference
Ramallah, West Bank – Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has decided to stop security coordination with Israel, and that they are only waiting for a “mechanism” to do so. In the past, the Palestinians have repeatedly threatened to cut off security cooperation with Israel but have always backed down at the last minute.
“I think the PLO will meet soon to talk about a mechanism on how to stop the security coordination,” Hamdallah told a meeting of the Foreign Press Association (FPA). “There has been a PLO decision to end the cooperation.”
That security cooperation has stopped dozens of attacks on Israelis over the past few years. If a decision to end security cooperation was implemented, it could pose a serious security threat to Israel. The last six months has seen a wave of Palestinian shooting and stabbing attacks that have left 30 Israelis and several foreigners dead.
Hamdallah said he welcomed a French initiative for a meeting of foreign ministers, probably in early June, that would lead to an international peace conference over the summer. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has come out against an international peace conference, saying that the only road to a peace deal must be direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Hamdallah, on the other hand, welcomed the French initiative.
“We have been talking to the Israelis for 22 years and nothing has been achieved,” Hamdallah said. “We hope a peace conference can set new parameters for peace between us and Israel and maybe we can set a time limit for an Israeli withdrawal and a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital.”
He said the international agreement on the Iranian nuclear program could provide a model for an Israeli-Palestinian deal.
“When the international community came together a peaceful solution was found,” he said. “Why not for the Palestinians?”
Hamdallah was asked about a recent UNESCO resolution that denied any Jewish claim to the holy site that Jews call the Temple Mount, and Palestinians call the Haram al-Sharif – a resolution that infuriated Israel.
“We always said that we don’t want to transform the conflict between us and Israel into a religious conflict – that is the worst scenario for the region,” he said. “A peaceful settlement could transform Palestine into a model for democracy and tolerance. We respect all prophets and all religions.”
When it came to internal Palestinian affairs, he said that negotiations with the Islamist Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip are continuing with the aim of forming a new government, leading to new Palestinian elections. He also rejected claims that the vast majority of Palestinians believe there is corruption in the Palestinian Authority.
“My government applies a mechanism for transparency and accountability,” he said. “If we have reports of any corruption these people will be brought to justice. I have been the Prime Minister for three years and no serious charges have been brought before my government.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Hamdallah, 57, then the rector of an-Najah University in Nablus to lead his cabinet. He was seen as an excellent administrator and fundraiser.
In the news conference, the Prime Minister said he was disappointed that President Obama had not done more to stop Israeli expansion on areas that Israel acquired in 1967.
“In 1993 there were 190,000 Jewish settlers,” Hamdallah said, referring to the year the Oslo accords were signed. “Today there are 600,000 (in the West Bank and east Jerusalem). We had hoped that the US would take a leading role in fighting against the settlements but this didn’t happen.”
Hamdallah also said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the root of all conflict in the Middle East, and that solving it would enable some of the other issues in the Middle East like Islamic State to be solved, although he did not elaborate.
“This is the womb of all conflicts in the region,” he said. “It should be priority number one.”