‘Bibi scuppered peace deal’
Israeli President Shimon Peres has said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2011 refrained from reaching an agreement with the Palestinian Authority on a framework for peace.
In an interview taped with Channel 2 two months ago and aired on Israeli television as a Yom Ha’atzmaut special, Peres discussed meetings he had held with PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
“We in fact reached an understanding on almost all the points and needed to do a summary,” Peres said of himself and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the interview.
According to Channel 2, Peres and Abbas were supposed to meet in 2011 in Amman but the meeting didn’t happen because Netanyahu did not sign off on the framework agreement. The meeting was supposed to take place on July 28, 2011 but Peres cancelled at the last minute, according to a report from that year by Maariv.
Discussing the cancellation, Peres said in the interview: “Netanyahu had the impression that there was a better offer brought in by Tony Blair [the representative of the Quartet on the Middle East which consists of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia].”
“I didn’t think so,” Peres continued. “He [Netanyahu] said, ‘give it three-four days and we’ll see.’
“And I thought that it wasn’t a three-day thing and I didn’t think that Tony Blair could bring a better offer than the one I myself had brought.”
Peres, who described the Palestinian leader as a man of character, a “fighter against terrorism,” and a man who is courageous and talks of peace, said before the meeting Abbas had agreed to recognise Israel as a Jewish state and proceed with a formula that allowed for territory swaps and the retention of Israeli settlement blocs.
Peres listed several “problems” that he said he had solved in talks with Abbas.
“Firstly, that there be two states, meaning that there will be a Palestinian state. He [Abbas] needs to agree to a Jewish state and we need to agree to a Palestinian one. In fact, we both agreed on these two things. Secondly, there is the ever-straining refugee problem, lest the return of refugees would undermine the state being a Jewish state. So he accepted the so-called Arab formula. Meaning that the refugee problem would be solved in a just and agreed-upon manner.”
Peres was referring to the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 which speaks of a “just settlement” on the refugee issue.
Asked by Channel 2 presenter Yonit Levy whether he had used maps in talks with Abbas, Peres replied: “We used maps in this regard: in principle. And what does that mean?
“Instead of talking about the ’67 borders, we spoke about the size of the area, not its borders. Which enables the exchange of territories with entities, the establishment of settlement blocs etc., and to this he agreed.”
Levy asked Peres whether it was accurate to say that he and Abbas “were on the verge of an agreement and Netanyahu stopped it. Is this the situation you are describing?”
Peres provided no reply but said: “To be precise, the settlement we reached was accepted by the Prime Minister. I was not handling private talks. The Prime Minister was a partner to every step of the way.”
Levy asked whether Netanyahu “got cold feet”.
“Maybe he really thought there could be a better offer. I do not know. I do not want to pass judgment just like that. At any rate, this is what he told me and I had no doubt … on what he said,” Peres replied.
According to The Jerusalem Post, sources in the Prime Minister’s Office denied that Abbas had agreed to anything at the time Peres was referring to.
The sources said that just like now, “all he wanted was to take from Israel without giving anything in return”.
The source added that the only agreements Abbas has made were “ones with Hamas”.
The Post reported: “Referring to Abbas’s meeting in Qatar on Monday with Hamas head Khaled Mashaal, the sources said that ‘anyone who embraces the arch-murderer Mashaal’ does not want peace with Israel.”
NATHAN JEFFAY
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