Abbas willing to speak in Knesset ‘on his own terms’
In response to Netanyahu invitation, PA president says he would agree to speak in Jerusalem only without being told what to say
Yifa Yaakov is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that he would be willing to speak at the Knesset, but only on his own terms, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited him to the Knesset to recognize Israel as a Jewish state “in order for the peace to be real.”
Speaking to The Voice of Russia, Abbas said that if Netanyahu “comes up with an offer and then immediately puts forward his own terms,” meaning that “this and that should be said and so on,” he would reject the invitation.
However, if Netanyahu were to ask him to speak at the Knesset “and say the things I want to say,” Abbas said that he was “ready to do it – but only in order to say what I want to say and not what he wants to hear.”
Abbas added that a Palestinian state with recognized borders would be created only “when Israel realizes the need to establish peace in the Middle East,” and stressed that the future state’s capital would be “in holy Jerusalem.”
He said he was confident “Palestine will undoubtedly become a full-fledged UN member state” in the future, having obtained the status of non-member observer state last year.
Abbas also touched on the “great potential” and the “significant part” Russia has to play in facilitating Middle East peace, urging closer economic cooperation between Moscow and the Palestinian Authority.
On Monday, Netanyahu invited Abbas to speak in service of the two-state solution in Jerusalem, saying that he would return the favor and speak in Ramallah on the same topic.
“Most of the Knesset members are unified: In order for the peace to be real, it must go in both directions. One cannot demand that we recognize a Palestinian national state without demanding of them to recognize a Jewish state,” the prime minister said at a special parliamentary session in honor of visiting French President Francois Hollande.
“Mr. President, hours ago you met Mahmoud Abbas,” Netanyahu noted, addressing Hollande. “And I call on him today: Let’s break the stalemate. Come to the Knesset. I will come to Ramallah. Come onto this stage and recognize the historical truth.”
Lazar Berman contributed to this report.
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