PA president believes the US secretary of state has ‘subjected Palestinian blood to regional power struggles,’ Palestinian official tells Arab daily
By Elhanan Miller
July 27, 2014, 2:42 pm
The Palestinian Authority is fuming at US Secretary of State John Kerry, accusing him of trying to undermine the Egyptian ceasefire initiative endorsed by Israel and the PA last week and rejected by Hamas, an Arab daily reported on Sunday.
Palestinian sources told the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat that Kerry had initially agreed to an Egyptian proposal for an immediate ceasefire followed by five days of negotiations between Israel and the PA, with American assurances to address some of Hamas’s demands. But on Friday evening Kerry produced a new plan based on consultations with Qatar and Turkey and conducted between “the State of Israel” and “the Palestinian factions,” excluding the PA. The Israeli cabinet unanimously rejected Kerry’s plan.
“Kerry tried, through his latest plan, to destroy the Egyptian bid and the Palestinian remarks on it (the Abbas plan). His initiative is an alternative to ours,” an unnamed Palestinian official told A-Sharq Al-Awsat. “Kerry was in fact trying to create an alternative framework to the Egyptian initiative and our understanding of it, in a way that placates the Qataris and the Turks.”
The Palestinian source said that PA negotiators were “very close” to finalizing a ceasefire deal that would insure the lifting of the blockade over Gaza and “realize all Palestinian demands.”
The Kerry document would see Israelis and members of the Palestinian factions convene in Cairo on Sunday following a 48-hour humanitarian ceasefire to discuss the opening of border crossings to Gaza, the entry of goods and people, the transfer of funds for salaries of Hamas civil servants and “all security issues.”
But the Palestinian source speaking to A-Sharq Al-Awsat said that agreement on most of those issues had already been reached as early as Wednesday in discussions with Egypt and the PA.
Read more: Abbas fumes at Kerry over alternative ceasefire bid | The Times of Israel
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