
After earlier reports said that the Palestinian Authority was considering suspending all security cooperation with Israel in the wake of Binyamin Netanyahu's reelection, the PA officially announced Wednesday night that it was hoping to renew talks with Israel, regardless of who was Prime Minister.
Nabil Abu-Rudeineh, the PA's official spokesperson, said that the PA has “no interest in the disposition of Israel's Prime Minister. The only thing we are interested in from any Israeli government is the recognition and acceptance of the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.”
At a press conference in Ramallah, Abu-Rudeineh said that acceptance of the two state solution was the only basis of negotiation with Israel.
Earlier, PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the PA would probably continue with its plans to apply to international geoups and to bring charges against Israel in the International Criminal Court. “
“It is clear that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will form the next government, and for that, we say clearly that we will go to the Hague Tribunal, we will accelerate, continue and intensify” those efforts, said Erekat.
On Sunday, Netanyahu told Arutz Sheva that his 2009 speech at Bar Ilan University, in which he voiced support for a demilitarized Palestinian state, is no longer relevant. "That was said at the time when the Middle East was in a different place... but right now I say - the Middle East has changed," he declared, pointing to the so-called "Arab spring", which he said had become an "Islamist Winter."
"Any territory that we give up is taken immediately by the forces of militant islam who use it to bombard our territory with thousands of rockets.
"The international Left and local Left aren't stupid. They know that I do not concede. They know that I stand our ground. They know that they have to knock me and Likud out - that's why their campaign is 'anyone but Bibi!'"
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas met on Wednesday, to discuss implementing the PLO Central Committee's decision earlier this month to end security cooperation with Israel. The meeting was scheduled before the results of the Knesset elections - in which Likud soundly defeated Labor by 30 seats to 24 - were known.