Palestinians Stick to Peace Talks Despite Complaints
Members of the Palestinian peace negotiating team did not resign over Israeli settlement construction announcements, Palestinian officials said despite reports to the contrary.
A report late last week on the Palestinian Maan news website said that negotiating team head Saeb Erekat and team member Mohamed Shtayyeh had resigned after Israeli announcements of new construction in settlements in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank following the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
But Palestinian officials over the weekend denied the reports, which come on the heels of calls from some Palestinian groups to halt the peace talks over the construction announcements.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Tuesday in a bid to spur along the current round of peace talks, which is three months into its agreed-upon timetable of six months. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has committed to the full nine months, according to reports.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30