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Israel Wants to Negotiate with Palestinian Leaders Not Involved in Terrorism

[Prime Minister's Office] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - Prime Minister Olmert told the opening of the winter session of the Knesset on Monday: I made a commitment to place on the public agenda a political process which would generate a deep and fundamental change in the pattern of relations between us and the Palestinians. The first stage in such a process is a serious effort to conduct negotiations with the authorized representatives of the Palestinian Authority, on condition that they would not include any elements involved in terrorist activity. President Abu Mazen and Prime Minister Salem Fayyad are committed to all the agreements signed with Israel, and I believe they want to move forward with us on a track which will change the reality between them and us. I know that the proof on the ground is the essential precondition for any possibility for progress in the relations between us and the Palestinian Authority. I also know that the gap between the honest and fair will of Abu Mazen and Salem Fayyad, and their ability at this time to translate it into a reality, is troubling and alarming. This November, an international meeting is expected to be held in the United States, with the aim of providing a backing to the process of dialogue between us and the Palestinians. The November meeting is not a conference which will replace bilateral, direct negotiations between us and the Palestinians. This meeting is intended to provide backing and encouragement and create a comprehensive umbrella of support for the direct process between us and them. The road to an agreement is still far and it is rife with pitfalls and difficulties. Terror from Gaza continues to run rampant. The terror organizations remain active in Judea and Samaria, and there will be no Israeli withdrawal whatsoever before it is eradicated there as well. We understand the hardship of the Palestinians and feel a deep empathy to the distress that many of them experienced as a result of our conflict. But they, too, will have to confront the need to relinquish the fulfillment of some of their dreams in order to create with us a reality that might not be ideal, and might not be perfect, but one that will give us all stability, security, happiness and peace.
2007-10-09 01:00:00
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