Israelis, Palestinians Meet Again Thursday
JERUSALEM, Israel -- After cancelling Wednesday's meeting, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are meeting again Thursday.
Wednesday's meeting would have taken place at the same time that slain Police Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi, shot dead by an Arab terrorist on the eve of Passover, was being laid to rest. P.A. officials said the U.S. requested the postponement.
Mizrahi was buried Wednesday afternoon in Jerusalem's Mt. Herzl cemetery. His widow, Hadas, appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to release more Arab terrorists.
As the funeral was taking place, several left-wing lawmakers were meeting with P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Right-wing MK Ofir Akunis said it was "unfortunate that while the victim of the terror attack is being buried in Jerusalem, MKs from Labor and Meretz found time to once again grovel to Abbas in Ramallah," the Jerusalem Post reported.
But despite all the posturing, P.A officials now say they're ready to continue the U.S.-brokered talks, an eventuality some predicted.
Earlier this month, Udi Segal, chief diplomatic correspondent for Israel's Channel 2, said Abbas would probably extend the talks because he didn't have "much to gain by breaking the rules right now." Segal said people in the State Department and even the White House "are starting to understand that Netanyahu is not the problem."
On Wednesday, Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh told reporters the two sides had already agreed to continue meeting after April 29, when Secretary of State John Kerry's nine-month timeframe expires.
"No one is talking about an explosion or a breakdown in talks," Rudaineh said, a statement that negates previous statements by P.A. chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, who vowed talks would not continue one day -- or even one hour -- past the April deadline.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Media Watch posted a bulletin Thursday exposing the P.A.'s pattern of glorifying terrorists to the Palestinians while condemning terror to Israelis.
