US fails to coax Abbas over letter

JERUSALEM / WASHINGTON

Abbas (L) plans to blame Israel for the impasse in a letter to Netanyahu. AP photo

U.S. President Barack Obama was unsuccessful in recent attempts to convince Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to soften the tone of a letter he soon plans to send to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, daily Haaretz has reported.

Speaking to Abbas for the first time in six months on March 19, Obama told the Palestinian leader not to follow through on a threat to include a promise to dismantle the Palestinian Authority in the letter. Abbas also plans to blame Israel for the impasse in the peace process and stress that “the current situation cannot continue.” Obama told Abbas that both Israel and Palestine need to brought an end to recent fighting and to avoid provocative actions, the Associated Press reported. Abbas, however, refused to budge on his plan to send the strongly worded letter and pledged to send it to Netanyahu in the next few days.