Fewer than 24 hours stand between Ramallah and visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry. All indications are that the latter will come bearing new proposals for the resumption of negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, thus heralding the end of a festive week at the Muqata, the headquarters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Kerry's visit there will be held from June 27-29.
The official Palestinian narrative, according to senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, is that "the Palestinians' terms for resuming negotiations remain just as they were. Namely, Israel's recognition of a Palestinian state on the borders of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, a settlement freeze, and the release of Palestinian prisoners held in detention since before the Oslo Peace Accords of 1993."
Erekat told Al-Monitor, "These are not ‘conditions,’ but commitments made by the Israeli side. We must not permit ourselves to get mixed up between preconditions and commitments, otherwise there will be no resumption of negotiations. For just such confusion is what Israel has been attempting to bring about the whole time."
Erekat stressed, “There will not be any meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Abbas and Kerry during the latter's visit to the Palestinian territories and Israel at the end of this week." He further added that "no such meeting is on our agenda."
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