Relations with Israel is India's sovereign decision: Abbas
Font size:
NEWSX
India's growing ties with Israel are not a matter of concern for Palestinians as they stand assured on New Delhi's support for their struggle for independence, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday.
"India's relations with Israel is its sovereign decision," Abbas told reporters in New Delhi when asked about New Delhi's growing engagement with Tel Aviv, particularly in the field of defence.
"We are not going to interfere. We know very well that India is supportive of the Palestinian struggle for achieving its own independence," he said after wrapping up his three-day visit to India during which he met President Pratibha Patil and held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who reaffirmed support to the Palestinian cause and to a negotiated settlement of the issue.
"We give our gratitude and thanks to the Indian government for the economic support they have given to us in the past and even during this visit," Abbas said.
On the change in leadership in Israel, he noted that prime minister-designate Tzipi Livni has been "really acquainted with the Middle East peace process.
"Until this moment we have been negotiating with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. During his negotiations, she (Livni) attended all the meetings and she is really acquainted with the negotiation process," Abbas said.
He said the two leaders cannot be compared but both belong to the same political party. "The moment Livni forms her own government, we will start negotiating with her," Abbas said.
On radical Hamas' refusal to accept his Presidency after January, Abbas said the Palestinian Authority (PA) was awaiting the Arab proposal to initiate the election process.
"According to the basic law and the election law, it states very clearly that presidential and legislative elections should carry on at the same time.
"So that is why we are waiting for the Arab proposal in order to initiate such elections. The sooner the Arab proposal is ready, the sooner we will have elections," he said.
Abbas said Egypt has concluded its bilateral discussions with different Palestinian political factions and a meeting with Hamas has been scheduled.
"There are positive signals from these meetings," Abbas said adding that he was looking forward for a discussion on the Arab proposal which is expected to be presented to the Arab League shortly.
"So, we will wait until this month or the beginning of next month and we hope things will go in the right direction," he said.
Asked whether PA saw the US or Israel as the biggest problem in West Asia, Abbas said "there is a very strong relationship between the US and Israel and in most of the cases both take the same positions.
"India's relations with Israel is its sovereign decision," Abbas told reporters in New Delhi when asked about New Delhi's growing engagement with Tel Aviv, particularly in the field of defence.
"We are not going to interfere. We know very well that India is supportive of the Palestinian struggle for achieving its own independence," he said after wrapping up his three-day visit to India during which he met President Pratibha Patil and held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who reaffirmed support to the Palestinian cause and to a negotiated settlement of the issue.
"We give our gratitude and thanks to the Indian government for the economic support they have given to us in the past and even during this visit," Abbas said.
On the change in leadership in Israel, he noted that prime minister-designate Tzipi Livni has been "really acquainted with the Middle East peace process.
"Until this moment we have been negotiating with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. During his negotiations, she (Livni) attended all the meetings and she is really acquainted with the negotiation process," Abbas said.
He said the two leaders cannot be compared but both belong to the same political party. "The moment Livni forms her own government, we will start negotiating with her," Abbas said.
On radical Hamas' refusal to accept his Presidency after January, Abbas said the Palestinian Authority (PA) was awaiting the Arab proposal to initiate the election process.
"According to the basic law and the election law, it states very clearly that presidential and legislative elections should carry on at the same time.
"So that is why we are waiting for the Arab proposal in order to initiate such elections. The sooner the Arab proposal is ready, the sooner we will have elections," he said.
Abbas said Egypt has concluded its bilateral discussions with different Palestinian political factions and a meeting with Hamas has been scheduled.
"There are positive signals from these meetings," Abbas said adding that he was looking forward for a discussion on the Arab proposal which is expected to be presented to the Arab League shortly.
"So, we will wait until this month or the beginning of next month and we hope things will go in the right direction," he said.
Asked whether PA saw the US or Israel as the biggest problem in West Asia, Abbas said "there is a very strong relationship between the US and Israel and in most of the cases both take the same positions.
del.icio.us
Digg
Technorati
Email to a friend
Print version
Plain text
Comments (0 posted):
Post your comment