RAMALLAH, March 11, 2017 (WAFA) –The recent Palestinian-US contacts, including the Friday telephone call between President Mahmoud Abbas and his US counterpart Donald Trump as well as the visit of the director of the CIA two weeks ago and his meeting with President Abbas, “would undoubtedly contribute to drawing the course of the developments for the next period, particularly what has to do with the substance and the timing of such contacts,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for President Abbas, said on Saturday.

He said these high-level contacts “did away with the Israeli illusions that President Abbas is not a partner for peace.”

The contacts, he added, “represent a clear message that the (peace) solution has to do with Palestinian, Arab and international legality, and that they are not illusions or projects that have no connection to the developments, rather they assert that the Palestinian cause is the core of the conflict and without it there will be no peace or security in the region.”

Abu Rudeineh pointed out that the US-Palestinian contacts “emphasized that establishing a Palestinian state is one of the fundamentals of Arab national security, which was maintained by the successive Arab and Palestinian generations.”

As for the upcoming Arab summit planned for later this month, Abu Rudeineh said “it will be an opportunity to strengthen the unwavering Palestinian position through joint efforts and broad Palestinian-Arab coordination during this delicate and critical period, where big challenges can only be faced with nationalist responsibility.”

He said, “We are confident as Palestinians and Arabs that we will overcome the adversities of this period and their dangerous repercussions.”

K.T./M.K.