Palestinian officials have visited Israel's parliament for the first time as the two sides move towards further peace negotiations following talks in Washington.
The unprecedented meeting saw the Knesset raise the Palestinian flag during a meeting between MPs, officials and businessmen from both sides.
The head of the Palestinian delegation, Mohammed al Madani, a member of President Mahmoud Abass's Fatah party, said: "We talked about how to make the peace process succeed and about the Arab initiative and the dangers of the process collapsing."
Israeli Labour Party member Hilik Bar said: "This meeting is to support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Abbas, and the negotiators in Washington."
The highly significant move is likely to be interpreted as a clear sign that both sides are serious about continuing with meaningful peace talks – three years after direct discussions stalled.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators shake hands in Washington It comes after successful discussions in Washington where Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed to set a nine-month target for an agreement.
Israeli President Shimon Peres said on Wednesday that he was "hopeful" that peace talks with Palestinians would lead to a two-state solution and bring prosperity to the Middle East.
"As an Israeli I am now very hopeful because the peace process was renewed between the Palestinians and ourselves."
He said the talks had "a clear purpose" to have "a Jewish state by the name of Israel and an Arab state by the name of Palestine not fighting each other but living together in friendship and co-operation".
"There is no alternative to peace, there is no sense to go to war," he said.
Negotiators from both sides have agreed to meet again within two weeks to start substantive talks.
Negotiators with Barack Obama during the two-day talks US Secretary of State John Kerry, who brokered the Washington discussions, said Israel and the Palestinians were committed to sustained and serious negotiations on the "core issues" that divide them.
Mr Kerry acknowledged doubts surrounding the new peace effort but said, "While I understand the scepticism, I don't share it. And I don't think we have time for it."
He said that Israel, which agreed on Sunday to release 104 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to enable talks, would take steps in the coming days to ease harsh living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza.
The broad outlines of any two-state agreement are well known.
The Palestinians want a state based on the borders that existed before the 1967 war in which Israel seized east Jerusalem and occupied the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel wants security assurances and a recognition that it is and will remain a Jewish state.
A construction site for Jewish settler homes in occupied Palestine Late last year, the UN General Assembly recognised the State of Palestine within those 1967 borders.
On Tuesday the lead negotiators - Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat – welcomed the developments.
Mr Erekat said: "It's time for the Palestinian people to have an independent sovereign state of their own. It's time for the Palestinians to live in peace, freedom and dignity within their own independent, sovereign state."
Ms Livni said to her counterpart: "We all spent some time in the negotiations room ... but we didn't complete our mission. And this is something that we need to do now, in these negotiations that we will launch today. And the opportunity has been created for us, for all of us, and we cannot afford to waste it."
"I believe that history is not made by cynics; it is made by realists who are not afraid to dream," Livni added. "Let us be these people."
Direct Middle East peace talks stalled in September 2010 after Israel approved plans for 1,300 Jewish settler homes to be built on the predominately Arab East Jerusalem.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Peace Talks: Palestinians Visit Israeli Knesset
Dengan url
http://tampolantelak.blogspot.com/2013/08/peace-talks-palestinians-visit-israeli.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Peace Talks: Palestinians Visit Israeli Knesset
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Peace Talks: Palestinians Visit Israeli Knesset
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar