PA prime minister: US promised new talks after Iran deal

The US has promised Ramallah it will ramp up efforts for a new round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians once negotiations with Iran are concluded, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said in an interview published Sunday.

Unnamed officials have hinted at such an arrangement, but Hamdallah’s statement to The Washington Post constituted the first official word that the US would was waiting to finish dealing with Iran’s nuclear program before attempting to jump-start peace talks.

“We have had certain assurances from the United States that after the Iranian deal, they will resume negotiations between us and the Israelis. We count on the [United] States and are sure they will deliver,” Hamdallah said in the interview.

Negotiations between Tehran and world powers are currently slated to end on June 30, though they have snagged in recent weeks on the issue of allowing inspections at military sites in Iran.

Officials in both Iran and the US have said they plan on sticking to the June 30 deadline, though European diplomats have indicated an extension may be considered.

Declaring that direct negotiations with Israel were a failure, Hamdallah said the Palestinians would only negotiate if the United Nations Security Council set a 2017 deadline for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank, though he insisted it was not a precondition.

The timeline is part of a French initiative to set an 18-month timetable for reaching a final agreement.

The resolution is not expected to be brought before the council before July, so as not to interfere with international efforts to reach a final agreement with Iran to curb its nuclear program.

In response to a question about that resolution’s connection to the renewed talks the US supposedly promised Hamdallah, the prime minister said, “What we hear is that there is coordination between the French and the [United] States.”

Hamdallah was optimistic that international pressure would force Israel to come back to the table.

“Nothing can be imposed from the outside,” he said. “We need negotiations between us and the Israelis sponsored by the United States, by the UN, by the [European Union].”

Le Figaro reported in May that the relatively short 18-month timetable was a result of French concern over increasing instability in the region, as well as of Paris’s desire to see results before President Francois Hollande leaves office in 2017.