Abbas rejects link between peace process, US aid to Israel
AFP
DUBAI- Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said he refuses to link the troubled Middle East peace process with a US offer of additional military aid to its Israeli ally, in a newspaper interview published on Friday.
"We refuse to allow the offer of planes be linked in any way to a freeze on settlements," he told the London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.
"The United States is an ally of Israel and we cannot prevent that," said the Palestinian president.
"But let their aid be carried out far removed from the Palestinian peace negotiations and not be used as a pretext for giving more weaponry to Israel," he said.
Israel has agreed to consider a renewed moratorium in exchange for a package of US incentives, reportedly including the delivery of an additional 20 warplanes to the Jewish state.
Washington's aim is to bring Abbas back to the negotiating table with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Direct peace negotiations resumed on September 2 but collapsed three weeks later with the expiry of a 10-month Israeli ban on West Bank settlement building.
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