AlHijjah 25, 1432, Nov 21, 2011, SPA - Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas asked the US administration to help implement a prior agreement between the Palestinians and former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, to release Palestinian prisoners, said Saeb Erekat, an Executive Member of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Erekat, speaking to Voice of Palestine radio, said the agreement included releasing Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, particularly those who were arrested before the Oslo Accords in 1993. Abbas, during his Sunday meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State, William Burns, stressed that the Palestinian application for statehood membership in the United Nations does not contradict with the peace process or the efforts to resume Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, said Erekat. Abbas stressed that resuming negotiations requires pressuring Israel to uphold its obligations, which include the halt of settlement activities in the West Bank, including in East Al-Quds (Jerusalem), and acceptance of the two-state solution based on 1967 borders. He indicated these are not Palestinian pre-conditions, but Israeli obligations according to the Road Map. Abbas stressed to the US administration that ending the internal division is a Palestinian high priority, Erekat was quoted as saying by Palestine News and Information Agency "WAFA".
