A senior Palestinian National Authority (PNA) official said on Wednesday that the upcoming few weeks will show the U.S. administration's seriousness and credibility in pushing forward the four-month proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
"The coming weeks will be a test for the ability and credibility of the U.S. administration to push forward real and serious negotiations that lead to tangible results and not only negotiations without outcomes," Nabil Abu Rdineh, spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told reporters.
Abu Rdineh said "The question is not related to when the proximity negotiations will start, the most important thing is related to Israel's seriousness and commitments to implementing the international resolutions and the references of the peace process."
"When Abbas meets with U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell in Ramallah on Friday, Abbas will ask Mitchell an important question related to the mechanism on how the proximity negotiations will go between the two sides," said Abu Rdineh.
According to Abu Rdineh, after an Arab League (AL) committee okayed launching the four-month proximity talks with Israel early this week, Abbas will chair a meeting of the executive committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Ramallah on Saturday to decide whether to launch the proximity talks with Israel.
"The PLO will convene on Saturday to discuss the proximity talks," said Abu Rdineh, adding "The Israeli accusations that the Palestinians are postponing launching the talks are just Israeli attempts to obstruct launching real and serious negotiations."
He added that "A few weeks after the negotiations start, the Palestinian leadership, however, will get back to the AL committee to preview the extent and the level of the progress that would be achieved and to evaluate the situation in general."
Meanwhile, Abu Rdineh reiterated that the issue of Jerusalem city, the eastern section of which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future Palestinian state, "can't be delayed to final phase of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)."
"The Palestinian leadership can't accept any delay of the issue of Jerusalem," said Abu Rdineh, following reports that the United States, which is set to lead indirect negotiations between the two sides, decided to delay talks on Jerusalem, adding "Without Jerusalem, there will be no Palestinian statehood or a peace deal. "
He also stressed that even partial solutions that may bypass the current status of Jerusalem "would not be accepted as well."
In a meeting with Jewish media in the United States on Tuesday, David Axelrod, an adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama, said that Jerusalem issue would be discussed at the end of the negotiation.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Gaza Strip-ruling Islamic Hamas movement and the more radical Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement slammed on Wednesday the Palestinian intentions to launch four- month proximity negotiations with Israel.
Islamic Hamas movement leader in Gaza Salah al-Bardaweel said in a statement to reporters that "Going for proximity or direct negotiations with the Israeli entity is a political suicide."
"This entity is not interested in any peace process and doesn't have the determination to reach a permanent settlement either with (Mahmoud) Abbas or with anybody else," said al-Bardaweel.
The less-influential Islamic Jihad group said in a press statement sent to reporters that "resuming the negotiations is an introduction to giving more Palestinian concessions to Israel," adding "the resumption of the talks is not based on having a national Palestinian consensus."
"Talking about having U.S. guarantees to the Palestinians is just a trick and another way to deceive the Palestinians. The talks with the Zionist enemy wouldn't achieve anything," said the group's statement.
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