Israel PM adding obstacles to peace, Palestinians say

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu has added more “obstacles” on the road to peace, a Palestinian official said yesterday after the Israeli Premier gave a speech to Congress.

“There is nothing new in Mr Netanyahu’s speech except that he is adding obstacles on the road towards a genuine, serious, lasting and comprehensive peace,” said Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas.

He said that peace required international benchmarks such as the recognition of the borders of 1967 as the basis for any peace negotiations - an idea which has been repeatedly rejected by Mr Netanyahu in a series of addresses over the past four days.

Abu Rudeina’s remarks came after Mr Netanyahu gave a 45-minute speech to a rare joint session of the US Congress in which he outlined a series of conditions and red lines for talks with the Palestinians.

Mr Netanyahu demanded they recognise Israel as a Jewish state, totally give up on the right of return for the refugees, accept an Israeli military presence along the West Bank’s border with Jordan and forego Palestinian sovereignty over largely-Arab east Jerusalem.

But, he assured them that Israel would be “generous” regarding the borders of a future state.

Mr Abbas, who heads the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), has summoned its leadership for a meeting in Ramallah today to discuss its response to a speech by US President Barack Obama on May 19 in which he called for a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, but with adjustments.

On Saturday, he will take part in an Arab League meeting in Qatar to examine the consequences of Mr Obama’s remarks.

In his speech, Mr Obama opposed the Palestinians’s campaign to seek UN recognition of an independent state within the 1967 borders, comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.