BICOM

Secret peace talks between Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took place in London, according to a report in the Jewish Chronicle. The meeting took place in March during Abbas’s official visit to the UK and was hosted by UK businessman Poju Zabludowicz at his London home.

PA Abbas arrived in London on 7 March and held meetings with David Cameron the next day. President Peres flew in secret to London for the talks. No representatives of the UK government or the Israeli embassy were present during the meeting, and only the closest advisers to Peres and Abbas were present at the negotiations. Israeli sources suggest the meeting was part of a series of four between the two men.

All the meetings have taken place with the knowledge and blessing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Peres and Netanyahu were completely co-ordinated between them,” said an Israel source quoted in Jewish Chronicle. However, over the weekend, reports in the Israeli press suggested that Netanyahu had intervened to close off the channel in recent weeks. No government official has openly confirmed or denied the meetings. Peres celebrated his 88th birthday on Tuesday and in an interview with IDF Radio he would only say: “I will continue to work in every permissible way for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement”.

The highly confidential nature of the meetings is an indication of how sensitive direct talks currently are for PA President Abbas, who in the past has publicly stated that negotiations cannot begin until settlement building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank is halted.