Lead PA negotiator Saeb Erekat. Photo: wiki commons.

The chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority in the ongoing U.S.-brokered talks with Israel asked the Israeli public on Wednesday to prepare for “painful concessions” required to make peace a reality, in a rare interview on Israel’s Army Radio.

Saeb Erekat said during a conversation conducted in Hebrew that the PA has already, “agreed publicly to a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders as well as the presence of an international force [in certain areas].” On the other hand, he claimed, Israel has repeatedly put up obstacles to a final status agreement being signed.

Erekat noted that the PA has also accepted the idea of Jerusalem becoming the capital of two nations and becoming “an open city,” Israeli daily Ma’ariv said. The senior PA official also claimed that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had prevented him for being interviewed by Israeli radio until Wednesday.

Regarding the current status of the highly anticipated framework agreement that is being developed by the American delegation, Erekat said, “I have not yet seen any official proposal. I have no idea what the contents will include… It’s too early to talk about such things.” Erekat then said he hopes that the secretary of state will, “do what is needed and not what is possible… I’m sure that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has called him [Kerry] and said, ‘I’m losing my coalition’.”

The PA negotiator’s advice to Kerry was simple and direct: “We’re not reinventing the wheel here, [Kerry] just needs to remain steadfast.”