RAMALLAH, July 28 (JMCC) - Former US ambassador Martin Indyk argues that direct Israeli-Palestinian talks will create a momentum where it will not matter whether or not Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu extends
Israel's ten-month
settlement freeze.
But again - once the Palestinians are in direct negotiations, what Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] will particularly care about most - is to move quickly toward an agreement. I might be wrong, but I don't think that either Netanyahu or Abu Mazen - certainly not [U.S. President] Barak Obama, [U.S. Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton or [special envoy] George Mitchell - want to get waylaid again by an argument about settlements. I think they all want to focus on the main challenge which is to reach an agreement on what the borders of the Palestinian state will be. And then the settlement issue will be resolved as a result of that.
Read the interview at
Haaretz...