INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Jerusalem Media Reaction (01/05): Potential Us Peace Plan

Published: Tue 5 Jan 2010 07:42 AM
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TAGS: PREL KMDR KPAL KWBG KPAO IS
SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (01/05): Potential US peace plan
dominates local Palestinian news
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Main Stories:
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Independent daily Al-Quds and PA official daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida
lead with news citing the Israeli daily Ma'ariv that the US will
present a peace plan and guarantees for ending the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict within two years. According to the
plan, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations will start immediately in
order to reach a final status agreement in two years. Reports note
that the first issue to be discussed is the final borders of a
Palestinian state, which should be agreed upon within nine months
(before Israel's temporary settlement freeze in the West Bank ends).
Subsequently, talks on Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees will be
discussed.
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reports that the PA denied any knowledge of the
US plan. Al-Ayyam quotes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
stating that he will not agree to preconditions to resume
negotiations with the Palestinians.
Independent daily Al-Ayyam leads with news on Palestinian Authority
(PA) President Mahmoud Abbas' meeting with Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak yesterday in Sharm el-Sheikh. Abbas noted in a press
conference after the meeting that the Palestinian position regarding
negotiations has not changed and that once all settlement activities
stop, the PA will resume negotiations with Israel. In a question
about US guarantees, Abbas stressed that the PA doesn't need
guarantees but needs a clear foundation to resume negotiations.
Al-Quds front pages news on Secretary Clinton's meeting with Qatar's
Foreign Minister in Washington yesterday. The daily quotes Clinton
reiterating that the Palestinians deserve to have an independent
state and that the Israelis deserve to live in security with their
Palestinian neighbors. She also stressed that the US will continue
to engage in solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The three dailies report that the PA will form a "national team" to
oversee efforts to gain full membership in the World Trade
Organization (WTO).
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BLOCK QUOTES:
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1) Hani Al-Masri, writing in Al-Ayyam under the title "Abu Mazen and
the Negotiations," believes that in order to have efficient and
effective negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis, the
negotiations strategy must change. Al-Masri suspects that the
current Israeli government is not ready for peace and therefore
urges the Palestinians to change the reality on the ground;
otherwise Israel will never be ready.
2) Al-Quds runs an editorial under the title "The Shameful Torture
Must Stop Completely" in which the writer praises the PA for
stopping the torture against Hamas prisoners and calls on Hamas to
stop the torture of Fatah prisoners in its jails. The writer says it
is shameful for Palestinian factions to torture their prisoners and
calls for ending the division.
RUBINSTEIN
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