Israel rejects Abbas' proposal of negotiations (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-04-27 08:51
Israeli Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas' proposal of holding peace talks shortly after Abbas made the
initiative Wednesday in Oslo.
The Jerusalem Post cited the spokesman for Olmert as saying that no summit
would take place until the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) reigns in
terrorism.
Abbas has tried repeatedly to skip the first phase of the Roadmap peace plan
which obliges the Palestinians to stop terrorism, according to the spokesman.
Abbas is currently on a European tour to appeal for financial support for the
PNA. He arrived in Oslo on Tuesday evening after wrapping up a visit to Turkey,
and the tour will also take him to Finland and France.
Abbas said on Wednesday in Oslo that an international conference should be
held "immediately" to help solve the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.
"An international conference should be summoned immediately, in which direct
negotiations take place, on the basis of UN resolutions and signed agreements,"
Abbas was quoted as saying.
Israel has frozen contact with the Hamas-led Palestinian government since it
was sworn in on March 29 unless Hamas renounces violence, recognizes Israel's
right to exist and accept previous deals between Israel and the Palestinians.
Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, has committed itself to Israel's
destruction and insisted on armed resistance against the Israeli occupation.
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