[“Two days ago a girl was shot or stabbed. That is not the topic of
discussion for today. Four Palestinians were killed in Kalandiya, too,”
Abbas stated.
IMRA: in late August incident 3 members of a mob of 1,500 in Kalandiya died
when the Israeli police border team that the mob was trying to kill with
petrol bombs and stones opened fire so that the Israelis could exit the
scene alive.]

Abbas mentions - but does not condemn - Psagot shooting
By LAHAV HARKOV The Jerusalem Post 7 October 2013 16:32
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Abbas-mentions-but-doesnt-condemn-Psagot-shooting-328082

All violence on both sides should be condemned, Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas told MKs visiting the Mukata presidential compound
Monday, though he would not specifically speak out against the shooting of a
nine-year-old girl in Psagot this week.

“Two days ago a girl was shot or stabbed. That is not the topic of
discussion for today. Four Palestinians were killed in Kalandiya, too,”
Abbas stated.

“We should all condemn murder and bloodshed of innocents.”

Only nine Labor MKs and Hatnua’s David Tsur of the Knesset Caucus to End the
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – led by MK Hilik Bar (Labor) and sponsored by
pro-peace NGO One Voice – traveled to Ramallah to meet Abbas in a conference
room featuring a large portrait of Yasser Arafat and a mural of the Temple
Mount.

Several Palestinian officials, including PLO executive committee secretary
Yasser Abed Rabbo and Palestinian Committee for Interaction with Israeli
Society chairman Muhammad Madani, attended the event.

The PA did not return the caucus’s gesture and hang an Israeli flag in the
Mukata even though a Palestinian flag was hung in the Knesset when officials
visited in July. At the time, Madani said that it would be “logical” to hang
an Israeli flag in the Mukata for the MKs’ visit.

Abbas thanked the MKs for visiting, saying that meeting Israeli and Jewish
leaders helps spread a message of peace.

“In recent years, there were many attempts to return to the negotiating
table. We had very successful talks with the [former prime minister Ehud]
Olmert government,” Abbas stated. “We were very close to an agreement, but
Olmert’s government ended; this was a great opportunity, which we missed.”

“We didn’t succeed in reaching the negotiation table with the new
government, which is why we went to the UN,” Abbas said. “Some say we went
to the UN instead of talks, but that isn’t true. Now, thanks to [US
President Barack] Obama and [US Secretary of State John] Kerry, we found a
joint base to renew talks between us and Israel.”

The PA president did not get into details about talks, saying that only
Kerry is authorized to do so. He did not refer to Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu or his speech Sunday demanding that the Palestinians recognize
Israel as the Jewish state.

However, Abbas emphasized that the nine-month time frame for talks that
Kerry set is enough to reach an agreement.

“We want normalcy between Israelis and Palestinians,” Abbas said, but added
points that he said are important in order for that to happen.

First, the PA president said “the Israeli government must stop settlers from
attacking Palestinians.”

Second, Jews should not be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount, he added.

Finally, Abbas said construction in settlements “has a negative effect on
efforts to reach an agreement.”

Still, Abbas said the current round of talks is “very serious,” and
expressed hope to reach an agreement in the next five months.

“Like John Kerry said, this may be our last chance. That’s very scary,”
Abbas concluded.

Bar said he’s happy to hear Abbas’s optimism, but that he does not agree
that this is the last chance for peace.

“People called for MKs not to come here because of [the shooting in Psagot],
but we said the attackers’ aim was for us not to be here and for there not
to be peace talks,” Bar explained.

“There are extremists on both sides interested in continuing the conflict,
but we want to promote peace.”

A majority of MKs want peace, because most Israelis want peace, even though
leaders can’t find a solution, Bar added.

Labor leadership candidate Isaac Herzog expressed hope that the current
talks “will bloom and bear fruit.”

“There is a direct linkage between peace and the wellbeing of the people in
Israel and the region,” Herzog stated.

“We believe in a two-state solution and that we have a partner for talks.”

Herzog called for Abbas and Netanyahu to work with all their might to reach
a peace agreement, and said he hopes they will soon “bring a historic
revolution to the Middle East.”