RAMALLAH, West Bank — President Mahmoud Abbas [3] of the Palestinian Authority [4] said Saturday that his security forces were struggling because Israel [5] had refused to allow them to import a shipment of weapons, and that he was “very, very, very afraid” of what might happen if one of the Palestinian [6] prisoners on a long-term hunger strike [7] died.
Mr. Abbas, meeting with a delegation from J Street [8], an American lobbying group that describes itself as “pro-Israel and pro-peace,” said 3,000 guns from Egypt and Russia sitting in Jordan had been previously authorized, but were now blocked from entering the Palestinian territories.
“If they help me to get weapons, I’m helping them because I’m promoting security,” Mr. Abbas said of the Israelis. “We want security to stop terrorism. We have a need for these legal weapons. I have complaints from the security apparatus: ‘We don’t have guns and bullets.’ ”
A senior Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that he was unaware of any hold on guns, but that there had been a longstanding dispute over heavier weapons going into the area.
“From Russia we’re not talking about guns and bullets — we’re talking about weapons that are above and beyond,” he said. “There are some types of weapons that we see as a potential security threat, and we are not yet comfortable.”
He added, “I’m not aware of any shortage of guns and bullets in the West Bank.”
Mr. Abbas spoke as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators sought to end a hunger strike by more than 1,600 prisoners that in some cases has stretched to more than two months, and hours before an Israeli envoy met with him here to deliver a letter regarding the peace process.
A senior Israeli official said the letter, which followed one last month from Mr. Abbas to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [9] of Israel, contained “Israel’s call to resolve all outstanding issues between the two peoples and resume direct negotiations, and to move ahead according to the formula articulated by the quartet,” a reference to the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.
After the late-night meeting on Saturday, the two sides issued a brief statement: “Israel and the Palestinian Authority are committed to achieving peace, and the sides hope that the exchange of letters between President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu will further this goal.”
With Mr. Netanyahu forming a new unity government in Israel last week, significantly broadening his coalition [10] and thus his power, Mr. Abbas said he was hopeful that there might soon be movement on the long-stalled process because what he called Mr. Netanyahu’s pretext of a fragile coalition had been removed.
“Now he is the emperor, or the king of Israel, he can do anything,” Mr. Abbas said. “If I were him, I would do it now, now, now — not to wait.”
Israel has repeatedly said that it is waiting for a “willing partner” to return to substantive negotiations, and that a crucial step would be for Mr. Abbas to recognize it as a Jewish state. But Mr. Abbas said Saturday that such recognition was not his responsibility, suggesting that Mr. Netanyahu instead “go to the United Nations and change the name.”
“Why he asks me? Why should I do it?” Mr. Abbas said. “I do not object. I do not reject. I’m telling you to go in the proper way to change your name. I am not the address.”
While there are no active talks on the broader conflict, Israeli officials have been meeting with representatives of the Palestinian prisoners, who are protesting the conditions of their Israeli detention, including solitary confinement [11] and restrictions on family visits and access to education. Several of the hunger strikers, including two Islamic Jihad members who have gone without food for 74 days and are near death, are demanding to be released from what is known as administrative detention — imprisonment without charges — which Israel says is a necessary tool to ensure security.
Thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets in recent days to protest the prisoners’ situation, occasionally clashing with Israeli soldiers, and leaders of Islamic Jihad and Hamas have warned of a violent uprising if one of them dies.
“I cannot control the situation,” Mr. Abbas told the J Street delegation of about two dozen in a half-hour meeting. “I am afraid, God forbid, that the security system here will collapse.”
He added: “I told the Israelis: ‘Please, please, please. They have some demands. If you do not respond to them and somebody today or tomorrow dies, it will be very, very disastrous for us.’ ”
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu, said Saturday that he hoped that “we are close to a deal” with the prisoners, but that he could not reveal details of the negotiations for fear of scuttling them.
“We are acting to contain the strike and to end it as soon as possible,” Mr. Regev said. “We have no interest in seeing Palestinian prisoners commit suicide. On the other hand, we can’t give a Hamas or Islamic Jihad prisoner, every time he goes on a hunger strike, a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
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