PA (Palestinian Authority) officials are calling for additional confidence building measures by Israel as a prerequisite to the resumption of diplomatic negotiations. These measures include the release of terrorists serving sentences in Israeli prisons since before 1994, upgrading the weapons used PA security forces and the removal of roadblocks from certain areas.

Senior PA advisor Nimar Hamad told a US Arabic language radio that these are the demands of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) towards resuming talks with Israel. Hamad explained a document containing these demands was given by Abu Mazen to US Secretary of State John Kerry when they met in Riyadh.

The document also calls for turning over areas in Yehuda and Shomron from IDF to PA security control, releasing frozen PA funds being held by Israel, and re-issuing VIP cards to a number of senior PA officials. These cards provide PA officials with the ability of bypassing inspection stations manned by Israeli forces.

Yisrael Hayom reports that Abu Mazen is pleased that US President Barak Obama plans to make the diplomatic process between Israel and the PA a priority during his second term in office.

Hamad told the interviewer that the document presented to Kerry was also passed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who did not reject it outright. Jordanian sources add the prime minister and King Abdullah discussed the document during a secret meeting held last week.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)