Israel Accuses Palestinians of Plot To Torpedo Peace Talks
Israel’s national security adviser said in a letter sent to ambassadors to Israel from around the world that the Palestinians had been planning to foil the peace process long before the breakdown occurred.
National Security Adviser Joseph Cohen attached to the letter, dated April 22, a document that Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat submitted to P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas proposing a strategy for the final weeks of the negotiations, Haaretz reported, saying it had obtained the 65-page proposal.
The strategy includes having the PA join international conventions, refusing to extend the talks beyond April 29, working to reconcile with Hamas and demanding the release of the final group of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, according to Haaretz.
Cohen, without coordinating with the Foreign Ministry, sent copies of his letter to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, the European Union countries’ ambassadors, the Russian and Chinese ambassadors, and U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Haaretz reported, citing unnamed senior Israeli officials and Western diplomats.
Most of the recommendations have been implemented in the last several weeks, which Cohen said in his letter showed that the Palestinians had planned to torpedo the talks even while negotiating their extension.
“The document serves as damning evidence of bad faith on the part of the Palestinians, which has unfortunately been demonstrated time and time again during these negotiations. It suggests that plans to reject American proposals and to pursue unilateral actions were in place well in advance, despite the unwavering commitment shown by Secretary [John] Kerry and his team in facilitating these negotiations, and the seriousness which Israel has demonstrated throughout the negotiation process,” Cohen wrote.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
