Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday expressed a willingness to sit down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of renewed peace talks organized by the Trump administration.
“I am ready to meet the prime minister of Israel anytime in Washington under the patronage of President Trump,” Abbas told the Japanese news outlet Asahi Shimbun.
Abbas also commented on a potential Palestinian demand for a freeze in Israeli settlement construction as a precondition for commencing negotiations, saying, “The question…before talking about any peace process, is to create the right environment for peace to come.”
“This will be impossible as far as Israel’s colonial-settlement enterprises continues,” he added.
Netanyahu has repeatedly called for Abbas to return to the negotiating table without any preconditions.
Abbas will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on May 3.
(JNS)
{Matzav}
