In his meeting with US President Barack Obama on Thursday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to propose the establishment of a supervisory committee, which would work under the Middle East Quartet in order to ensure that both Israel and the Palestinians are complying with their commitments.
According to Israel Radio, in a meeting in Washington on Wednesday night, Abbas said that he will present Obama with new ideas connecting the Road Map plan and the Arab League peace initiative.
Regarding the Palestinians right of return, Abbas said that he is not asking that 5 million Palestinian refugees return to Israel and noted that he had reached an understanding on the issue with former prime minister Ehud Olmert.
"We will not destroy Israel," he reportedly pledged.
Also on Wednesday night, Abbas adviser Yasser Abed Rabo said that Israel's policy in Jerusalem is ruining any prospects of a peace agreement. Rabo noted that the issue of Jerusalem will be at the center of Abbas's meeting with Obama.
In an interview with Palestinian television, Rabo called on Israel to freeze settlement expansion and remove checkpoints from West Bank roads.
In related news, former Fatah security commander Muhammad Dahlan on Wednesday night said that Israel's policy on West Bank settlements and Jerusalem is "killing the two state solution," Israel Radio reported.
In an interview with Palestinian television, Dahlan reportedly said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government isn't interested in making peace with the Palestinians and is deceiving the US administration and the international community by taking symbolic measures, such as dismantling outposts and talking about the peace process.
According to the radio station, Dahlan noted that should the Palestinian leadership reach the conclusion that there is no way to implement the two state solution it will have two options - dismantling the Palestinian Authority or establishing a bi-national state.
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