PHOTO: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Peres
Israel’s President Shimon Peres said Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blocked a 2011 peace agreement that Peres had secretly negotiated with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Peres told Channel 2, on Israel’s Independence Day, that he and Abbas “had gone through all of the points and the agreement was ready”, but the draft was rejected by the Netanyahu Government.
Peres said, “Netanyahu told me to wait a few days because he thought that Tony Blair” — (former British Prime Minister and envoy of the Quartet of the United Nations, the US, Russia, and the European Union — “could get a better offer”.
The President continued, “The days passed and there was no better offer.”
Peres’ statement confirmed remarks made by Abbas in August 2011 to his Fatah movement, which governs the West Bank:
After the first four meetings, a fifth meeting was planned in Amman but Shimon Peres made his excuses and told me: “I’m sorry but the government doesn’t accept what we have negotiated and there’s nothing more I can do.”
Peres has intervened soon after the collapse of a US-brokered effort to revive talks between Israel and Palestine. The Netanyahu Government pulled out of the discussions after the Palestinian Authority said it was planning to join 15 United Nations organizations and international treaties.
