Abbas Urges Netanyahu to ’Stop the Chaos’ at Al-Aqsa - Diplomacy and Defense - Haaretz Sep 23, 2015
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.677191
(...) Senior Palestinian officials told Haaretz that the Palestinians have no expectation that the U.S. administration will present a new peace plan and so Palestinian efforts will focus on the international arena along with attempts to move things ahead in the Palestinian domestic arena. In that vein, Palestinian officials reported that a meeting will take place this weekend between Fatah and senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials ahead of a special meeting in October in Cairo of leaders of Palestinian factions.
Abbas said this week that he sent a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently warning of the severe consequences of the ongoing diplomatic stasis. The message was sent via former cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit, whom Abbas invited to a secret meeting in Ramallah two weeks ago.
Abbas revealed the fact of the message and his use of Sheetrit as an envoy during a meeting in Paris on Monday with four retired Israeli diplomats who served in the past as ambassadors to France: Daniel Shek, Nissim Zvili, Elie Barnavi and Yehuda Lancry. The meeting was hosted by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
Shek, who served as ambassador to France in 2006-2011, told Haaretz that Abbas said he is willing to meet with Netanyahu, but “a third party who isn’t Israeli” opposes holding such a meeting and has prevented it from taking place. The Israeli diplomats tried to find out who this third party is, but Abbas refused to say.
#Anne_Hidalgo, #Mahmoud_Abbas , #Daniel_Shek, #Nissim_Zvili, #Elie_Barnavi
