RAMALLAH, December 5, 2016 (WAFA) –Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, said on Monday that a call by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, for a regional solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is an attempt to impose new preconditions and to invert the Arab Peace Initiative.

He said in a statement that Israel’s preconditions, including demands for a Jewish state or continuing with illegal settlement activities, are only an attempt to evade requirements of the peace process and to undermine international efforts to salvage the political process and the two-state solution.

He added that the two-state solution is in real danger due to Israeli practices and preconditions.

“Any talk on inverting the Arab Peace Initiative means free normalization with the Arab world without Israeli pullout from all the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and the rest of the occupied Arab territories,” said Abu Rudeineh.

The presidential spokesman said the Palestinian leadership considers such an attempt as a continuation of Israeli policies hostile to the two-state solution or to any other fair political process that would lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian with East Jerusalem and its holy places as its capital.

M.N./M.K.