Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas is big on talking all about his desire for peace and a final status agreement with Israel. But acting on those words is quite another story.
Abbas bluntly rejected a proposal by the European Union that he meet with Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin in Brussels. The two men were in the European Union’s main governmental headquarters for meetings with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, and to address the EU Parliament about the peace process.
Donald Tusk, the president of the EU Parliament tried to broker the meeting between Abbas and Rivlin, but the Palestinian Authority leader refused.
At a joint news conference with Mogherini, Rivlin expressed disappointment in the rejection.
“On a personal level, I find it strange that my friend Abu Mazen refuses again and again to meet with Israeli leaders… Instead, he turns again and again to the support of the internal community,” he said. “We can talk directly,” he pointed out. “We can find a way to build confidence.”
Israel has repeatedly emphasized the importance of direct talks and after decades of failed multilateral talks has rejected that option as a way to reach a final status agreement with the Palestinian Authority.