PA FM: Only precondition for talks is that Israel announce commitment to two states

The Palestinian Authority informed US President Donald Trump’s administration that their only precondition to reviving peace talks is that Israel announce its commitment to the two-state solution, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told the Chinese Xinhua newspaper on Monday.

“We are ready to engage in negotiations when Israel announces that it is committed to the two-state solution as the primary and only solution,” Maliki said in an interview in Bejiing, where he is accompanying PA President Abbas on a four-day visit.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he supports a two-state solution, but many ministers and members of his government strongly oppose it.

Maliki’s comments came less than a week after Trump’s peace envoy Jason Greenblatt visited Jerusalem and Ramallah to discuss ways to revive the peace process.

Since the collapse of the last round of peace talks in May 2014, the Palestinians have demanded that Israel freeze settlement building and release Palestinian prisoners before restarting negotiations.

However, PA President Mahmoud Abbas has – without mentioning preconditions – said on multiple occasions in the past several months that he is ready to meet with Netanyahu.

Abbas, who is slated to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, told Xinhua in an interview published on Sunday that he is open to minor land swaps with Israel in a final peace deal.

“We say that they must be small percentages and equal in terms of size and quality of land,” Abbas said.

Land swaps refer to exchanges of territory between Israel and the Palestinians in which the two sides would agree to modifications to the 1967 border in a final agreement.

Practically, land swaps would allow Israel to maintain some settlements and the Palestinians to annex some parts of Israel.

According to leaked documents, the Palestinians offered former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a 1.9% swap of land in 2008, in which Israel would be able to keep Gush Etzion and other settlements straddling the Green Line, while the Palestinians would annex various territories in Israel along the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The leaked documents also showed that Olmert offered Abbas a 6.8% exchange of land, in which Israel could keep settlements such as Ariel and Ma’ale Adumim, whereas the Palestinians would gain territories around the West Bank and Gaza.