Erekat: Palestinians in no rush for regular talks with Bibi, await freeze renewal decision

Palestinian Authority Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat rejected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's calls for bi-monthly, face-to-face meetings with PA President Mahmoud Abbas during upcoming peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel Radio reported on Saturday, citing an interview Erekat conducted with the BBC in Arabic.

In the interview, Erekat added that it is too soon to establish who exactly will meet for negotiations, how often they will do so, and where the meetings will take place.He emphasized that the most important issue determining the success or failure of the talks at this point is Netanyahu's stance on whether or not to extend the building freeze in the West Bank which is scheduled to end on September 26.

Netanyahu said on Thursday, in a meeting with his top advisers, that he planned to propose next week, at the launching of direct talks in Washington, that he and Abbas meet every two weeks and come to agreement on the principal issues that will then be fleshed out by smaller negotiating teams. He added that “serious negotiations in the Middle East [require] direct, discreet and continuous talks between the leaders on the key issues. That is why I am suggesting that the talks be conducted in this fashion.”

At the Thursday meeting, Netanyahu said that he would personally conduct the negotiations with Abbas, and that his point man on the Palestinian issue, Yitzhak Molcho, would be the chief negotiator in the meetings between the teams. Among those expected to be in the Israeli team are National Security Council head Uzi Arad; the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general of the Middle East department, Yaakov Hadas; Netanyahu’s military attaché Brig.-Gen. Yohanan Locker; Director of Policy Planning Ron Dermer; as well as a Defense Ministry and IDF representative.

Read more in the JPost.