Interview: Palestinians await answers from U.S. on settlement, two-state solution: senior official

RAMALLAH, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — The Palestinians are waiting for answers from the U.S. on two major issues in order to resume the peace talks with Israel: Israeli settlement expansion and the two-state solution, a senior Palestinian official said Thursday.

Tayeb Abdul Rahim, the Palestinian Presidency Chief of Staff and an aide to President Mahmoud Abbas, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that the Palestinians have held several rounds of talks with the American delegation, but the American side has not answered the two questions so far.

“The first question is what is the official American position concerning Israeli settlements, and the second is what is the American position related to the principle of the two-state solution in accordance to the 1967 borders,” said Rahim.

He criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for not clarifying whether his efforts to resolve the Palestinian issue would start from accepting the two-state solution.

The 1947 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 recommends the establishment of a Jewish state and an Arab state in the former British mandate territory of Palestine.

The last U.S.-sponsored direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stopped in April 2014 after nine months without achieving any progress, due to deep differences on Israeli settlement building and the borders of the future Palestinian state.

“Do they want a one-state solution? I believe that many Israelis reject this principle because they are afraid that after 20 years, the Palestinian population will be a majority in this state, otherwise, this state would turn into an apartheid state; something the world would never accept,” Rahim said.

He urged the U.S. to make its position clear as soon as possible and stop talking about issues which are far from the essence.

“Otherwise, the right-wing Israeli government will carry on with its settlement policy and will topple the two-state principle,” he said.

The senior official called on the international community and influential powers like China, the European Union and Russia to unite their efforts to have greater influence on the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser and Trump’s son-in-law, and Jason Greenblatt, the U.S. special representative for international negotiations, are expected to visit the region again at the end of the month, amid hopes that it could achieve a breakthrough in restarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

“Many meetings brought us together with the U.S. delegation in charge, but as I said, they did not touch on the core of the subject and the essence of the two-state solution,” said Rahim.

He said that the Palestinian side should not be blamed for the current deadlock in the peace process.

“Our position is clear that America is capable of forcing Israel to take the decisions of international legitimacy,” he said.