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Israel rejects attempt to restart talks with Palestinians: report

Xinhua, December 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israel rejected a Palestinian proposal in July to hold secret peace talks in which the issue of the Palestinian state borders would be established first, Israel Radio reported on Sunday.

The report stated that the former Israeli chief negotiator, Silvan Shalom, who resigned from his post as Interior Minister last week amid sexual harassment allegations, met with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in several locations in Europe and the Middle East in July.

The Palestinian Authority proposed holding the talks secret and announcing them only once a treaty is in order, the public radio station reported, while deciding on the issue of the borders of a future Palestinian state at the beginning of the talks.

However, the report cited Shalom as charging that Israel opposes this proposal, fearing the Palestinians would not be willing to compromise on other issues at hand once they get assurances on the borders of the Palestinian state.

In response to this report, an Israeli official, who wished to remain anonymous as he was not at liberty to discuss the issue with reporters, denied the report.

"Israel is willing to resume to the negotiations table without preconditions," the official said, reiterating a sentiment made public several times recently by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He added that Shalom and Erekat did meet but denied the allegations that Israel refused to restart negotiations.

Isaac Herzog, head of the opposition in the Israeli parliament and chairman of the Zionist Union, responded to the report and said Netanyahu is preoccupied with "creating fear and preserving his rule," according to a status posted on his Facebook page.

"He's tired and desperate and automatically shuts the door to any new initiative or hope for peace," Herzog wrote.

Israel occupied the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, home to over 5 million Palestinians, in the 1967 Mideast War. The Palestinian Authority wishes to establish a Palestinian state in these territories in accordance with the two-state solution.

The last round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians took place between July 2013 and April 2014, but ended without results.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attempted to revive negotiations recently, amid an ongoing wave of violence, which started in October, claiming the lives of 21 Israelis, 1 U.S. citizen and more than 120 Palestinians.

Netanyahu claims the Palestinians are inciting to violence and publicly calls on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume negotiations.

The Palestinians charge Israel has been foot-dragging and making impossible security demands in the last round of negotiations, while continuing to build Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, on territories slated to be part of a future Palestinian state. Endit