Peace can only be achieved through talks with us, says PA

The Palestinian Authority (PA) said on Tuesday that peace can only be achieved with the occupation state of ‘Israel’ through talks with it.

This came after comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview with Israel’s Arabic news network Panet, addressing Arab voters in the Green Line.

عاجل//الخارجية والمغتربين// نتنياهو ينفذ الضم يوميا دون انتظار موافقة بايدن. https://t.co/LQzaTDDkxp

— وزارة الخارجية والمغتربين الفلسطينية (@pmofa) March 21, 2021

Netanyahu said that peace with the Palestinians could be achieved after normalizing ties with the Arab states, adding that he does not see a possible creation of a sovereign Palestinian state.

“This way, Netanyahu is turning the table up-side-down regarding the Arab Peace Initiative,” said the statement issued by the PA Foreign Ministry.

Netanyahu is prioritising the steps for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “based on his own colonial priorities, which aim to marginalise the Palestinian cause”, the statement added.

“He is trying to produce a soft image for the Palestinian state that keeps up with his colonial interests and is trying to impose it forcefully and market it to the international community and [US President] Joe Biden’s administration,” the statement said.

The statement also said that Netanyahu has been working to expand illegal settlements, annex more Palestinian lands, fight the Palestinians in Area C, Judaise Jerusalem through separating it from its surrounding, doubling the number of settlers in the Holy City, demolishing Palestinian homes and shops, and pushing more enforced displacement.

Spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said, “Peace and stability in the region can only be achieved through first making peace with the Palestinian people and their legitimate leadership and resolving the Palestinian question based on resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative.”

Lately, the occupation state confiscated the VIP border pass of the Foreign Minister upon his return to the West Bank from a meeting at the International Criminal Court.

The Israeli occupation government has declined to comment on the matter.

The Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post, however, on Monday cited an Israeli official as saying that the relationship between the occupation state and the Palestinian Authority will not be “business as usual,” in light of the Palestinian Authority’s successful appeal to have the International Criminal Court investigate Israel for war crimes.

“The Palestinian leadership has to understand there are consequences for their actions,” the Israeli official said.

The Israeli official threatened to cut all joint economic projects with the PA.

“For them to suppose that they can go to the ICC and it will be business as usual from Israel is a very questionable proposition”, he said.

This report comes only one day after the occupation state confiscated the VIP pass of al-Malki.

Commenting on the confiscation of the VIP pass, the Israeli official said that the occupation state is not limiting Malki’s freedom, however, it is taking away “extra privileges” that it had granted to him.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda said recently that she launched a formal probe into war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Last year, the occupation state normalized ties with four Arab states: the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.

Palestinians condemned the normalization agreements, saying they encouraged Israel’s denial of their rights and do not serve the Palestinian cause.

Speaking to Ynet News last week Netanyahu said there were “four more peace agreements” on the way, but he gave no further information.

“I brought four peace agreements,” Netanyahu said in the interview.

“There are another four on the way. I talked about one of them yesterday.”

Netanyahu did not name the countries, but later the same day Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen told Radio 100FM that the countries nearest to signing deals were Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and Niger.