Abbas Says, ‘I Am Willing to Speak to Knesset on My Terms'

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he would be willing to speak to the Knesset, but only on the issues he chooses.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Abbas last week to address the Knesset and said he would be willing to travel to Ramallah to speak to the PA leadership.

“Netanyahu comes up with an offer and then immediately puts forward his own terms – that this and that should be said and so on. No, if those terms are put forward, I do not accept that,” Abbas told the Voice of Russia in remarks broadcast Friday. “But if he wants me to come and say the things I want to say, then I am ready to do it — but only in order to say what I want to say and not what he wants to hear. ”

Abbas did not mention whether the Israeli Prime Minister would be welcome to speak in Ramallah.

Netanyahu had said that Abbas would be welcome to speak to the legislators if here prepared to recognize that Israel is a Jewish state.