“We have never rejected political negotiations with Israel,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters in a press conference in Ramallah with his Bulgarian counterpart, Rumen Radev, Abbas stressed that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has always been ready to take part in negotiations with Israel, warning that “it won’t accept solutions outside the framework of international legitimacy”.

Bulgarian President Radev Confers with Palestinian President Abbas https://t.co/EvycTW9xLz

— BulgarianNewsAgency (@BTA_TopNews) March 22, 2018

“We want a two-state solution — an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. This city, East Jerusalem, should be open to all religions, Islam, Christianity and Judaism, which will practice their religious rituals freely.”, The Times of Israel quoted Abbas as saying.

?? Ambassador:
You heard the president, (Abbas)say yes for a two-state solution—a big yes.
Always journalists start with the ‘no’ with us, that we are the side that says no, when in fact it is the other way around, 70 years & nothing, enough is enough!"https://t.co/WV1zYxIilO

— Damanda C_Palestine ❄ (@amanda_damanda) March 13, 2018

Addressing the internal issues with Hamas, the Palestinian president noted that “they [Hamas] must immediately hand over everything, first and foremost security, to the Palestinian Authority,” referring to the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas that was signed in Cairo in October 2017.

“If Hamas does not hand over everything to the national unity government, it will bear the consequences for failing the Egyptian efforts to achieve reconciliation,” he warned.

Palestinian President Abbas condemns #Hamas for its assassination attempt on his PM. pic.twitter.com/2FvwpYPd1t

— Eitan Arvats (@EitanArvats) March 20, 2018

Last week, Abbas decided to take “national, legal and economic measures” against Gaza following an assassination attempt against the PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Gaza. Abbas held Hamas responsible for the attack.

However, the Gaza Strip’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry says it has “clear evidence” implicating the perpetrators of a failed assassination attempt on Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah.

Hamas: Rami Hamdallah convoy attack suspects killed in #Gaza – https://t.co/73lIVSZak9 via @AJEnglish #Palestine pic.twitter.com/Xvp2eQnpiH

— al whit (@soitiz) March 22, 2018

He went on to condemn accusations by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, stood behind the attempt on Hamdallah’s life.

On Thursday, Gaza’s Interior Ministry announced that the “prime suspect” in the assassination attempt had been killed in a gunfight with Hamas-run security forces in the central Gaza Strip.

Hamas hails security services over progress on Hamadallah’s case https://t.co/L1BLDsfwRB pic.twitter.com/Ml8vlLqSZF

— Hamas Movement (@HamasInfoEn) March 22, 2018

According to the ministry, two security officers — along with a second suspect — were killed in the exchange.

(MEMO, PC, Social Media)