Abbas: No Progress In Talks With Bush

Palestinian President Pessimistic On Prospects Of Peace Deal With Israel This Year

(AP)  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday he failed to achieve any progress in Middle East peace talks with President Bush and he was returning home with little to show for his visit.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the Palestinian leader sounded pessimistic about the prospects of achieving any deal with Israel this year despite a big U.S. push that began five months ago at a summit in Annapolis, Md.

"Frankly, so far nothing has been achieved. But we are still conducting direct work to have a solution," Abbas said.

Abbas said the biggest obstacle is Israel's continued expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian-occupied territories.

"We demanded the Americans implement the first phase of the road map that talks about the cessation of settlement expansion," Abbas said, expressing disappointment the U.S. hasn't exerted more pressure on Israel to stop. "This is the biggest blight that stands as a big rock in the path of negotiations."

Israel is pushing forward with controversial building projects on disputed land in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and is refusing to take down illegal settlement outposts, release Palestinian prisoners, halt military incursions, and dismantle roadblocks that severely disrupt daily life.

Abbas' aides said he also was upset after his lunch Thursday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. While discussing what a peace deal would look like, Rice didn't mention the Palestinian goal of creating a state based on borders before Israel captured Palestinian land during the 1967 Mideast war.

"We demanded that they talk about the '67 borders," Abbas told AP, showing a rare flash of anger. "None of them talks about the '67 borders."

Asked whether U.S. officials offered any new U.S. proposals, Abbas said no.

"They are exerting efforts. And we are still negotiating," he said, but he noted that no progress had been made on any of the core issues.

"All the files are still open. None of them are concluded. The situation is still as it was," Abbas said, speaking in Arabic.

The main unresolved issues include the final borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of Jerusalem, disputed Israeli settlements and Palestinian refugees.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said Bush didn't respond directly when Abbas brought up the issue of Palestinian objections to continuing Israeli settlement expansion when the two leaders met Thursday at the White House.

"Bush told him (Abbas) that I'm focusing on the bigger picture," Erekat explained.

Abbas said he was looking for a full Middle East peace framework agreement that would be detailed and includes timetables, while the Israelis have signaled that a "declaration of principles" would be enough of an achievement before Bush leaves office in January 2009.

"We don't want a declaration of principle because we had one," Abbas said, referring to the 1993 peace agreement reached at Oslo between the Palestinians and Israel. "Now we want a normal agreement. And then we can go for the details."

Despite his disappointment, Abbas said he would still meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regularly in hopes of achieving a deal. But there are no three-way talks scheduled anytime soon with Bush, Abbas and Olmert.

Bush is scheduled to visit Israel in May to help Olmert celebrate the country's 60th anniversary, and then the U.S. president will travel to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to see Abbas separately.

"It will be a bilateral meeting between me and Bush. That is the meeting I was invited for," Abbas said.

Abbas said the one thing he did achieve during his U.S visit was to lay out the Palestinian conditions for any peace deal and press his case that he cannot go for any partial agreement because the Palestinian people would not accept it.

"We have made clear our position to the president, to the State Department and to the Congress," Abbas said during the 15-minute interview in his hotel room in Washington. "And now our position is very clear to all of them."

Abbas' moderate and Western-backed government rules the West Bank, the territory that would eventually form the bulk of an independent Palestinian state. Hamas, the Islamic militant group that seized control of Gaza and serves a rival force to Abbas, is not involved in the peace negotiations with Israel.

Abbas has been losing popular support for the peace process due to a lack of any changes on the ground for people whose daily lives have been disrupted by Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks that Israel says are meant to maintain security and stop militant attacks on Israeli citizens.

[leftyintexas]

Peace is NOT one of Bushs big successes!

Posted by liberalme at 02:29 PM : Apr 27, 2008

Does he have ANY? Ha!Ha!Ha!

[leftyintexas]

I for one am sick of the whining.

Posted by ColonieNY at 10:15 AM : Apr 28, 2008

So stop whinning!

[colonieny]

If Israel bothers you, why doesn''t Pakistan ? Millions of people were murdered by Muslims to carve out this country from India, yet there are no UN protests or decades call for a return etc. Essentially it is racist, anti modern, anti Jewish and anti Western Jihadist that has driven this focus on little Israel. I for one am sick of the whining.

[factsearcher]

Why, does the world resent this speck of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean?

Israel has all of the geographic disadvantages of its neighbors and it doesn''t have any oil fields. Yet it prospers, while others falter.Israel has all of the geographic disadvantages of its neighbors and it doesn''t have any oil fields. Yet it prospers, while others falter
The Palestinian question has awakened emotions on the European left and in many Arab states. Yet remarkably the critique of Israel is generally quite oversued. Arafat, as putative Palestinian leader, was granted 97 percent of the West Bank and some control over holy sites in the negotiation at Wye Plantation. Yet he turned down these generous Israeli terms.
In fact, there aren''t any terms that serve the ambitions of Arabs eager to destroy the state of Israel, unless, of course, national suicide is a reasonable negotiating point.

The Palestinians manage their news media. There isn''t an opposition voice in the Palestinian territory and if an unpredictable comment is made, it is often squelched with force. Reporters Without Borders has reported numerous occasions where journalists were beaten when they challenged Hamas or Hezbollah positions in print.

[factsearcher]

Why, does the world resent this speck of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean?

Israel is a thorn in the side of the Arab world because it is a remarkable technological phantasmagoria. Almost every Israeli is engaged in a software innovation. The Jews in this arid nation have made the deserts bloom; they have converted brain power into technical marvels and consequent wealth.
By contrast every nearby Arab nation is dysfunctional. Their governments are tyrannical; the people are poor and uneducated and local officials have been unwilling to convert oil revenue into social benefits.

[j-whitman]

libagenda-singinrick ---- Bush told you to stop with your Islamafobia & missuse of language ---- Calling them terrorist or even the way you use the word Jihad is wrong & "Emboldening the Enemy", it adds to the problems.

[liberalme]

Peace is NOT one of Bushs big successes!

[neoconrcrazy]

yep, and that''''s EXACTLY what you secularist liberals are doing in our country with your dangerous, dictatorship-style double standards you have forced into our culture

Posted by libagenda

so, if it''s possible to understand the comparison you allude to between palestinians right to freedom and your denial of that right - you say your position is because of "liberal, dictator-ship style double standards forced upon America" ?

you must have sleepless nights! Try a lttle medication......

[trishab4]

Look at the picture of the Idiot in WhiteHouse and Abbas, how can one describe the face of the later, but despised and pissed a lot?

-The Liar-Liar-In-Chief is trying to get the Photo-Op, from the gullible but pissed-Abbas. Abbas will lose his people''s faith if not yet done, mainly because of the Liar-in-Chief... This will cause people faithful to Abbas'' moderation approach migrate toward the right-wing Hamas and make things even more bitter in this too long bloody conflict...

[quetzal0666]

libagenda...

Go Preach at a Mejdi Neighborhood, im sure theyd welcome you in their own special way....

[quetzal0666]

Onward Christian Soldier....
to your Delusional Path..

[factsearcher]

Posted by Quetzal0666
1.why do palestinians depend so much on Israel?
A. Because Isreal Controls everything coming in and going out of Palestine Proper. you know, road Blocks,
Big Walls, Navy off the coast..
Don''t forget that Egypt is part of the equation...they are also controlling the entrance of goods to palestinians. why?
2. Cant they build, create resources for a better living?
A. Their Way of living was and is being affected by the Apparteid, theres no way to have a viable self sustaining GNP as a Country.
there is so much strife and anger, too many factions,
they have been subjected to so much mysery for so long all they know is retribution.
You mean to say... that since they prefer to kill and bomb with qassams on to Israel, prefer to keep teaching their children to fight, kill or die...
they follow blindly Arafat and hamas teachings so that they are not willing to stop violence in exchange for peace, opening the wall, agreement for trade of goods... better their lives and stanrdard of living.
3. They have money coming to them....!
A. True, they have just enough money coming to them
to stave off a full time collapse of their way of life, how much are they getting in handouts?
They have received 7.7 billion dollars last year!!! by "international donors" to improve and increase their standard of living. However, the government has seized a sizable portion to maintain the militia.

[quetzal0666]

You got out of the El dorado Compound Ricky?
Good for you,

[neoconrcrazy]

You friggin traitors are DISPICABLE to this country. Absolutely DISPICABLE

Posted by libagenda

the inability of this poster to debate facts and rely only on expletives and epithets underlines his narrow and biased understanding of the palestinian problem.

he would most likely have sides with the British during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812.

we can only pity those would claim right to freedom and independence for themselves, then deny it to others.

when principles become political positions, their words also become meaningless.

[j-whitman]

singinrick,,,, Bush told you not to use the word Jihadist -- It Emboldens the Enemy & you don''t know the meaning of it. ---- As usual, you still don''t know the 1st thing about terrorism

[j-whitman]

Rick,,,, You are the traitor to this country if anyone is. --- You insist on FAILURE in the War on Terror

[j-whitman]

factsearcher,,,,, You need to start searching for facts someplace else other than the toilet

[quetzal0666]

factsearcher .........
Good Grief,
You have no idea what youre talking about do you?

1.why do palestinians depend so much on Israel?

A. Because Ishreal Controls everything coming in and going out of Palestine Proper. you know, road Blocks,
Big Walls, Navy off the coast..

2. Can''''t they build, create resources for a better living?

A. Their Way of living was and is being affected by the Apparteid, theres no way to have a viable self sustaining GNP as a Country, while they are under occupation and bombs rain down on them.
there is so much strife and anger, too many factions,
they have been subjected to so much mysery for so long all they know is retribution.

3. They have money coming to them....!

A. True, they have just enough money coming to them
to stave off a full time collapse of their way of life, how much are they getting in handouts?
While that Illegitimate Rede Headed Step Child of a country crowes with $$$ for their apparteid Government. ever see pictures of Palestine next to Ashreal? kinda sad that we are supporting such
mysery, if it were up to me id love to dictate where my taxes go, id leave Ishreal off of my tax deductions...........

[j-whitman]

factsearcher,,,, "Selective minds become mindless" ?? Indeed.

You are the one with totally blind support for Isreal & want the Biblical Apartheid forced on the Palestinians.

[factsearcher]

Our "aid" is only being funneled into the apartheid against the palestinians - I don''''t know how we can call ourselves a democracy while supporting all of the terrorist style actions of Israel against the Palestinians.
Posted by hungry1968

Spoken like a real radical.
Selective minds become mindless.
Now tell me... why do palestinians depend so much on Israel? Can''t they build, create resources for a better living? They have money coming to them... where do they put it? rockets??
Poor Darfur, Poor Zimbawe, poor Somalia