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Meridor: Talks Won't "Yield Results"

(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - Israeli Deputy Premier Dan Meridor, a member of the seven-minister inner cabinet, told the Jerusalem Post Tuesday that indirect talks with the Palestinians would lead nowhere. Meridor, who is in charge of intelligence and atomic affairs, said he was afraid the Palestinians were trying to avoid making "tough decisions," by maneuvering the U.S. and the world into imposing a solution to the conflict. No one, he said, not the U.S., the EU or the UN, can decide "for us that French Hill [in northeast Jerusalem] is Palestine, or Ma'ale Adumim [east of the capital] is Palestine. They cannot do that. We need to come to an agreement." And this agreement, Meridor said, will only come through direct negotiations. Because of a failure of the Palestinian leadership to make the tough decisions needed to "end the conflict" - such as acknowledgement that Palestinian refugees would not be allowed to return to Israel, or the acceptance of a Jewish state alongside a Palestinian one - Meridor said he was skeptical of the likelihood of getting an agreement within a short time. Therefore, alongside negotiations, what is needed in parallel is to continue with Netanyahu's bottom-up approach that includes building more institutions for the future Palestinian state, and improving both the economy and law and order in the West Bank.
2010-05-05 08:43:16
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