RAMALLAH, May 20, 2011 (WAFA) – Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the initiative US President Obama had made the night before to restart negotiations.

Netanyahu said after meeting Obama in the White House on Friday that he does not accept the US president’s call on Israel to agree to negotiations with the Palestinians based on the 1967 borders with land swap.

“These statements are an official declaration that he is not ready for true peace based on justice and international resolutions,” said Abu Rudeineh.

He said permanent status negotiations are done through negotiations, and not through press statements, referring to the refugee issue to which Netanyahu said will not be resolved inside the borders of the Jewish state.

Abu Rudeineh said the issue of the Palestinian government is an internal matter, stressing that it is “an independent government that has nothing to do with Fatah or Hamas and its program is that of President Mahmoud Abbas.” He said, “What Netanyahu is saying are excuses to avoid sitting at the negotiating table.”

He said “the US administration has to put a stop to Netanyahu’s blatant refusal to enter into a real peace process and a permanent one based on the two-state solution.”

M.A.