Netanyahu prepared to start negotiations |
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By: Rebecca Anna Stoil and Herb Keinon, JPost 26.07.2010 The following is an excerpt from an article featured in the Jerusalem Post.
Israel is ready to begin direct negotiations with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Monday, adding that if the Palestinians were willing to open direct talks, Israel might turn over a key road in the north Jerusalem area.
The road – which connects Ateret and Neveh Tzuf – would remain under Israeli security control but be under Palestinian civil control. The move would be meant to enable traffic between Ramallah and the planned city of Rawabi.
“We are weighing relaxing traffic [restrictions] in parallel with the opening of negotiations,” the prime minister told the committee. He added, however, that no final decision had yet been made.
“This is one of the trust-building steps about which I spoke with the Americans,” he explained.
Israel is ready to begin the direct talks with the Palestinian Authority as early as next Sunday, Netanyahu said, days in advance of Thursday’s Arab League meeting in Cairo. The Arab League is expected to determine whether or not the Palestinians should hold direct talks with Israel.
According to officials close to the prime minister, the statement was the first time that Netanyahu had offered a concrete timetable for Israel’s participation in direct talks.
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