Netanyahu’s letter to Abbas offers nothing new, PLO says

The PLO executive committee said Sunday there was “nothing new” in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most recent letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Prime ministerial envoy Yitzhak Molcho delivered the letter to Abbas in Ramallah on Saturday.

The prime minister’s letter was a response to a note from Abbas that Palestinian negotiators gave to Netanyahu last month.

The committee said Netanyahu’s response to Abbas’s letter did not address major issues, like freezing settlement activities, establishing borders and releasing Palestinian prisoners, and did not provide a basis on which to return to the negotiating table.

The committee further called on the international Quartet to intervene in order to overcome peace process obstacles.

The letter exchange is the highest-level communication between the two sides in months.

Abbas said last Tuesday that he would be ready to resume peace negotiations with Israel if Netanyahu proposed any positive steps. “If there is anything promising or positive, of course we will engage,” he said.