Abbas says no meeting with Netanyahu in Moscow planned

PLO Executive Committee Member Ahmad Majdalani said on Tuesday that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had planned to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow without preconditions.

Speaking during a press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, Abbas said that “President Putin has proposed a meeting on September 9 in Moscow”.

Palestine’s Ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal told Sputnik on Monday that Abbas and Netanyahu looked set to meet in Moscow, but the exact timing was not defined.

Rivlin expressed Israel’s interest in restarting peace negotiations with the Palestinians, but regretted that “the Palestinians are looking for other arenas to debate with us in the worldwide arena”.

Despite the reported collapse of the talks, Bodganov struck an optimistic tone with the press following his meeting with the Palestinian delegation on Tuesday, saying that work continues on “the date, form and content of the meeting”.

He said that the trust between the two sides is at an “all time low”, and that both sides need to take positive steps “to create a positive climate in which credible negotiations are possible”.

In conjunction with the launching of the initiative, leaders of Decision at 50 today sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asking for a meeting to explain the rationale for the referendum and to lay out the details of the legislation required by the Knesset to put the referendum initiative in motion. He said that he relayed that message again to Bogdanov. The two men last met for seven hours in 2009. “We hear contradictory reports about this”, he said.

“The main question is, of course, is Abu Mazen (Abbas) willing to meet without preconditions?”

“President Abbas was clear with the Russians, he told them: we want a meaningful process, and such a process requires a solid foundation, such as a settlements freeze, prisoner release and recognizing the ’67 lines as the basis for the talks”. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing the contents of a closed diplomatic meeting.

“The Russians, who are eager to regain their role in the Middle East, understand the Palestinian point of view”.

In recent weeks, Russian Federation had offered to host the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an effort to restart peace efforts.

France has also been pursuing its own peace initiative, with the idea of holding an global conference on the conflict before the end of the year.