Abbas and Netanyahu say willing to meet, but no date set

WARSAW: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both said Tuesday they were willing to meet to relaunch peace efforts, but no date was set and they traded blame for stalled talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been seeking to arrange a meeting between the two in Moscow in a bid to restart peace efforts that have been at a standstill for more than two years.
But disagreements over the conditions for such talks have derailed previous efforts, and Netanyahu again called for a meeting without preconditions.
Abbas did not speak of what his conditions would be for such a meeting if any, but Palestinian leaders have previously spoken of three issues.
They include a halt to Israeli settlement building, the release of prisoners and a deadline for the end of the occupation of the West Bank.
The Palestinian president, speaking during a visit to Warsaw, said a meeting had been proposed for Friday but an aide to Netanyahu suggested delaying this, leading to it being called off.
"Netanyahu's representative proposed to delay this meeting to a later date. So the meeting will not happen," Abbas said at a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
"But I am ready and I declare again that I will go to any meeting."
Netanyahu, speaking during a visit to The Hague, said he was "ready to meet Abu Mazen (Abbas) at any time directly and without preconditions".
"The real question is whether Abu Mazen is willing to meet us without preconditions and we are hearing conflicting reports on that," he said.
Putin's Middle East envoy has held talks with both Netanyahu and Palestinian leaders in recent days.
On Tuesday after talks in Palestinian political capital Ramallah, he said efforts would continue to work towards a future meeting.
"We are very thankful that Abu Mazen accepted in principle the Russian initiative proposed by President Putin," Mikhail Bogdanov said.
"We'll continue our efforts, discussions and contacts with the two parties about the form, contents and dates of the meeting."
Political concerns
Peace efforts have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.
The last substantial public meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu is thought to have been in 2010, although there have been unconfirmed reports of secret meetings since then.
There have been concerns in Israel that US President Barack Obama will seek to make a strong statement on the conflict in his final months in office, possibly by supporting or at least not vetoing a UN Security Council resolution that Israel opposes.
International criticism of Israeli settlement building, including from the United States, has intensified in recent months.
Netanyahu's government, considered to be the most right-wing in the country's history, has nonetheless continued with the policy.
The settlements are considered illegal under international law and major obstacles to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.
At the same time, the Palestinians themselves remain divided between Abbas's Fatah party and the Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip.
Polls have also shown that the majority of Palestinians want the 81-year-old Abbas to resign, making it difficult for him to take any steps that could be seen as concessions.
France has also been pursuing its own peace initiative, with the idea of holding an international conference on the conflict before the end of the year.
The Palestinians strongly support France's international approach, saying years of negotiations with the Israelis have not ended the occupation.
Netanyahu, however, firmly opposes the French initiative and calls for direct talks.
On Tuesday, Abbas said international help to end the conflict was crucial.
"The peace process has stalled because of the Israeli government's position and we now need the political and economic help of the United States and the European Union, especially to rebuild our infrastructure," he said. — AFP