Jewish leaders press Abbas to start talks

U.S. Jewish leaders pressed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the issues of incitement and direct talks.

Abbas met for dinner June 9 with an array of national Jewish leaders under the auspices of the Center for Middle East Peace. Abbas had met earlier that day with President Barack Obama at the White House.

Abbas was questioned about his reluctance to advance from proximity talks, brokered by the United States, to direct talks with Israel. Both the Obama and Netanyahu administrations favor direct talks.

Abbas gave the Jewish group a “legalistic” argument. He said he wanted direct talks, but only after proximity talks had achieved progress on the “core issues” of borders, Jerusalem and refugees.

Abbas was more combative on the issue of incitement. He contradicted his earlier claim that his government was not responsible for incitement, acknowledging some incitement in official Palestinian media. However, he expressed frustration that Israel did not recognize his efforts to end incitement in the mosques, saying he was the only Arab leader to centralize Friday sermons and to remove imams who incited against Israel.

Jewish leaders also pressed Abbas on reaching out to Israelis to reassure them of Palestinian intentions. — jta