Minister: Peace talks likely, but ‘cool the excitement’ on deal
Citing PA president’s past refusal to accept Israeli offers, Ze’ev Elkin says Abbas walked away from ‘dream’ concessions
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Likud Minister Ze’ev Elkin suggested on Thursday morning that a new round of peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians was likely after US President Donald Trump met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, while urging observers to “cool their excitement” on the prospects of a peace deal.
“I assume there is a particular likelihood that peace talks will begin,” Elkin, the minister responsible for Jerusalem, told Army Radio, a day after Trump hosted Abbas at the White House in the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders.
Elkin, who also holds the environmental affairs portfolio, emphasized that peace talks do not guarantee an agreement is on the horizon.
“I would cool the excitement a bit because, once again, we have experience with Abu Mazen (Abbas),” Elkin said, citing failed talks between Abbas and former prime minister Ehud Olmert in 2008 as proof of the former’s lack of will for peace. Israel had offered to relinquish sovereignty in the Old City, divide Jerusalem, give the Palestinians nearly the entire West Bank with one-for-one land swaps to retain major settlements, and absorb 5,000 Palestinian refugees over five years.
The PA leader balked on the offer, citing Olmert’s legal troubles at the time as his primary reason. Abbas also said Olmert’s offer to accept a symbolic number of Palestinian refugees into Israel did not resolve the issue.
Elkin also noted Abbas’s intransigence in 2009 and 2010, during which Israel instituted a nine-month settlement freeze that the PA president had demanded. Then too, talks broke down, with the Palestinians arguing that the construction halt was merely partial as it did not include a suspension on building in East Jerusalem.

“He was given the best conditions he could have ever dreamed of,” Elkin said, referring to Abbas.
During their Wednesday White House meeting, an upbeat Trump expressed unreserved optimism that he could help Israelis and Palestinians resolve their conflict.
“We will get it done. We will be working so hard to get it done. It’s been a long time, but we will be working diligently, and I think there’s a very, very good chance,” Trump said during his joint press conference with Abbas.
“Now, with you, Mr. President, we have hope,” the PA president responded.
Abbas went on to emphasize that the only possible solution to the conflict is the two-state solution, which Trump had not mentioned in his own remarks.
The US president said he expected to host the PA leader again once more progress had been made and ultimately to sign a peace agreement. “We’ll do it,” Trump promised.