Minister Silvan Shalom
Minister Silvan ShalomFlash 90

Interior Minister Silvan Shalom (Likud) on Monday evening called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to restart peace talks with Israel without preconditions.

"If the Palestinians will be serious and sit down for real negotiations, without preconditions and without compromise, I pledge that they will find a true partner," Shalom said at the Herzliya Conference, speaking at the same panel in which former French president Nicolas Sarkozy took part.

“I call from here on the moderate Arab states and the Palestinians to join, to unite and hold a security-political-economic conference which advances the negotiations and the situation in the region,” he added.

The comments come amid continuing calls on Israel to renew peace talks on the basis of a “two-state solution”.

New Zealand recently indicated it is working on the new resolution to revive the long-stalled peace talks.

The Security Council in December rejected a resolution that would have set a deadline for reaching a final peace deal and pave the way to the creation of a Palestinian state.

As well, the European Union’s (EU) Foreign Policy Chief, Federica Mogherini, visited Israel recently in an attempt to persuade the sides to resume talks.

PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, however, has continuously imposed preconditions on peace talks and he recently did so again, demanding that Israel stop construction in Judea and Samaria, release terrorist prisoners and hold talks for a period of no more than a year.