In counter to US peace plan, Palestinians say ready for direct talks with Israel

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh addressing a press conference in Ramallah, March 2020

Agence France Press and Times of Israel report, “The Palestinians are prepared to renew long-stalled peace talks with Israel and to agree to “minor” territorial concessions, according to a counter-proposal to a contentious US plan. A Palestinian Authority text sent to the international peacemaking Quartet, and seen Monday by AFP, said that the Palestinians are “ready to resume direct bilateral negotiations where they stopped,” in 2014.”

“Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said on June 9 that the PA had drafted a response to the US proposal, but did not previously mention a new readiness for resume direct talks with Israel. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said on June 9 that the PA had drafted a response to the US proposal, but did not previously mention a new readiness for resume direct talks with Israel.”…

““We are ready to have our state with a limited number of weapons and a powerful police force to uphold law and order,” it said, adding that it would accept an international force such as NATO, mandated by the UN, to monitor compliance with any eventual peace treaty. The text also proposes “minor border changes that will have been mutually agreed, based on the borders of June 4, 1967,” when Israeli forces took control of the West Bank.” (more…)