Former prime minister Ehud Olmert met in Paris on Friday with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas and praised him as a peacemaker, reports The Jerusalem Times.
Sources close to Olmert said the Palestinians initiated the meeting after they saw him say in an interview with the i24 television channel that he wanted to meet with Abbas. When the Palestinians found out Olmert would be on a private family visit in Paris at the same time that Abbas would be there to meet with French President Emanuel Macron, they arranged the meeting.
“President Abbas never said no to me,” Olmert told Palestinian television at the meeting. “It’s true he didn’t say yes but I’m sure, as President Abbas said, it’s also true that had I been able to continue my term in office for three or four more months, there would have been peace between us and the Palestinians. He doesn’t reject continuing the framework we discussed.”
Olmert said Abbas is the only person among the Palestinian people who is capable of reaching an agreement. He said that the PA leader proved in the past that he can fight terrorism and is committed to seeking peace.
The two leaders met more than 100 times during the three years Olmert was prime minister, culminating in what is seen as the most generous offer Israel has ever made to the Palestinians in September 2008. Talks ended then, and Olmert left office due to criminal probes in March 2009 that resulted in his going to prison on bribery charges in 2015.
Sources close to Olmert said he did not criticize the current American policies in his meeting with Abbas and that he did not inform Netanyahu about the meeting in advance. The sources said no further meetings with Abbas had been set.
The meeting evoked outrage from Israeli politicians.