Washington, Sep 23 (RIA Novosti) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has insisted that Israel must honour commitments on borders with Palestine made in 2008 talks in order to resume the stalled bilateral peace negotiations.
Abbas met Tuesday US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York to discuss the settlement of the long-lasting Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the resumption of peace talks, which were suspended last December.
“As for resuming talks, this depends on a definition of the negotiating process that means basing them on recognising the need to withdraw to the 1967 borders and ending the occupation, as was discussed with the previous Israeli government when we defined the occupied territories as the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem,” Abbas told a news conference after the meetings.
However, the right-wing Israeli prime minister said his government was “certainly not obligated to the positions of the previous government”.
President Obama earlier urged both sides to do more to make peace talks possible.
The issue of Jewish outposts has become the main obstacle to reviving peace talks with the Palestinians, and a sticking point in relations with the US, Israel’s main strategic ally.
Under the internationally agreed roadmap for Middle East peace, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement construction activity, and remove unauthorised outposts built since 2001.
