The Palestinian Authority (PA) is ready to renew direct negotiations with Israel if they are based on respect for UN resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative, the PA’s “foreign minister” said on Thursday.
Speaking during the MED 2020 virtual conference, and quoted by the Sputnik news agency, Malki recalled that the PA had recently renewed financial and security coordination with Israel.
"We consider that as an encouragement reason for the new [US] administration to move forward in that direction. We are sending clear messages not only to [Joe] Biden administration, not only to Israel, but also to the European and many others that Palestinians are ready to re-engage completely with Israel in renewing direct negotiations without any preconditions as long as such renewal is based on already recognized terms of reference, meaning the UN resolutions and Arab Peace Initiative, international law etc.,” he said.
“These are the most important elements for us, on which any kind of future negotiations with them should be based," Malki added.
The last round of US-mediated peace talks between Israel and the PA failed in 2014 when the PA unilaterally applied to join international organizations in breach of the conditions of the talks.
The PA has rejected any attempts by the Trump administration to broker peace talks with Israel, arguing that Trump is biased in favor of Israel and is therefore not an “honest broker”.
However, since the election of Biden, the PA has indicated it would be willing to resume talks. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, recently said the PA is ready to return to the negotiation table with Israel under international legitimacy.