Ahlul Bayt News Agency, OCCUPIED JERUSALEM -- Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader in the West Bank, has said Thursday he would go for direct negotiations with the Israeli occupation even it has a 1% chance of success.
Abbas's remarks came despite the statements of Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister of the Israeli occupation, ruling out any possibility of achieving peace with the Palestinians within the one year specified by the US administration.
"I think we have to be pragmatic enough to lower the level of expectations regarding the success of the negotiations with the Palestinians… we have no magic prescription, and I don’t believe that we could achieve a lasting peace and leads to solving all the crucial issue like Jerusalem, the refugees, and the Israeli settlements within one year", underlined Lieberman in press statements he made earlier.
He also voiced his full confidence that the Israeli cabinet won't extend the freeze on settlement building in the West Bank that, he said, was approved by the Netanyahu government under pressure from the US administration to convince the Palestinians to go for direct negotiations.
He also disclosed that 1,600 settlements units obtained all the necessary approvals and were ready for construction once the deadline for the freeze expires next September.
Abbas, for his part, said that he and his team in the West Bank would go for the direct negotiations with the Israelis, saying, "If there is a 1% chance of success for the direct negotiations we would go for it and with full conviction because we want peace with our neighbors".
A couple of days ago, the armed militia of Abbas in the West Bank violently quelled a gathering organized by Palestinian factions opposing going to the direct negotiations.
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