Netanyahu agrees to new gestures towards Abbas

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to release over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, to remove several roadblocks in the West Bank, and to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip, as a series of gestures towards Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the London-based Arabic Language news agency Al-Hayat reported Saturday, reports Internet.
During his meeting with United States special Mideast envoy George Mitchell Friday Netanyahu also agreed to enable the Palestinian Authority to act in Area C in the West Bank, however he refused the US demand to freeze construction in East Jerusalem as well as the request to return all territories classified as Area C in the West Bank to PA control, Al-Hayat reported.
Netanyahu agreed, however, to enable the PA to act in Area C which would remain under Israeli sovereignty, Al-Hayat reported.
The West Bank was divided in 1995 into Areas A, B and C, in accordance with an Israeli-Palestinian interim agreement. Over 70,000 Palestinians live in Area C, which according to the Oslo Accord gives Israel full civilian and military control of the area.
Palestinian sources quoted by the London-based paper said that despite the new gestures Abbas rejected Netanyahu's recent offer to establish a Palestinian state within temporary borders on over 60 per cent of West Bank territories, as he believed that the offer was an attempt to drag him into sterile negotiations in order to perpetuate the PA as a temporary borders.
Israeli and American officials reportedly conveyed the offer to Abbas, while President Shimon Peres and Defense minister Ehud Barak both attempted to convince the United States that this was the only way to prevent a continuous Middle East conflict, Al-Hayat reported.
The Israeli leaders also attempted to convince Abbas over the phone to accept the offer, and stressed that it would not be a permanent solution to the ongoing conflict, but rather it was the best option in light of the current circumstances, Al-Hayat reported.
PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said that establishing a Palestinian state with temporary borders was out of the question and demanded a total construction freeze in East Jerusalem, Al-Hayat reported.
Meanwhile, AP from Ramallah adds: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday he rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state in temporary borders, in an apparent response to media reports that Israel is trying to revive the proposal.
Instead, Israel and the Palestinians should resume serious negotiations on the terms of full Palestinian statehood, Abbas said, adding that such talks should wrap up within two years.
Israel and the Palestinians remain far apart on the framework for such talks, and U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell returned to the region on Friday for a new push to narrow the differences.
The US has proposed indirect talks in which Mitchell would shuttle between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. However, the Palestinians say they won't engage unless Israel agrees not to start new housing projects for Jews in traditionally Arab east Jerusalem, claimed by the Palestinians as a capital. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected a building freeze in east Jerusalem.