Abbas rejects Israel's preconditions for Middle East peace process

Jul 8, 2009, 14:32 GMT

Belgrade - Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday in Belgrade that he will not accept Israel's conditions for the Middle East peace process.

'The Israeli side speaks about conditions and preconditions. We do not accept any preconditions nor do we make one. We are speaking about the conditions of the road map that both sides need to fulfill,' Abbas said in an interview with Beta news agency.

Abbas, who is on an official visit to Serbia - the first by a Palestinian leader in 20 years, said that the Palestinians fulfilled all conditions envisaged by the road map for the Middle East, while Israel had yet to stop settlement building.

'They have not stopped building the settlements, nor did they leave their posts nor accepted or recognized the two states solution,' he added.

Abbas said he is hoping that permanent peace will be achieved one day. 'We hope, but the ball is in the Israeli court.'

Abbas, whose Fatah movement controls the West Bank, whilst the Gaza Strip is run by the militant Islamist group Hamas, also praised the US President Barack Obama.

'We have fulfilled all the obligations (from the road map) while Israel haven't done anything,' Abbas said and added that Obama 'is not pressuring, but asking, the Israeli side to fulfill their obligations, after which negotiations could start.'

During his two day visit, Abbas met with Serbia's highest officials. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was the last Palestinian official to visit Belgrade in 1989, when he attended a Non-Aligned Movement summit.