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Abbas in doubt over Middle East peace talks
Source: Agencies |
September 28, 2010, Tuesday
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THE Palestinian president said yesterday he would wait at least a week before deciding whether to quit Middle East peace talks, giving United States mediators precious time to broker a compromise after Israel refused to extend its ten-month moratorium on new West Bank settlement construction.
President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the newly launched negotiations if Israel resumes building in the settlements. But with the stakes so high, Abbas said during a visit to Paris that he would not make any hasty decisions. He said he would consult with the Palestinian leadership before discussing the matter with representatives of the 22-member Arab League next Monday.
"We will not have any quick reactions," he said at a news conference standing beside French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "After this chain of meetings, we will be able to put out a position that clarifies the Palestinian and Arab opinion on this issue now that Israel has refused to freeze settlements."
The construction restrictions that the Israeli government ordered expired at midnight on Sunday with no sign Israel was heeding US and Palestinian pressure to keep the curbs in place.
That threw the peace talks, which only restarted three weeks ago, into doubt. But the Americans said they were still working with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to find a formula that would keep the negotiations alive.
Abbas yesterday urged Israel to extend the settlement slowdown for three or four more months to allow for a discussion of "fundamental issues" in negotiations.
Jewish settlers in the West Bank jubilantly marked the end of the construction curbs on Sunday, sending thousands of blue and white balloons - the colors of the Israeli flag - into the air and breaking ground on a new kindergarten. They vowed to build thousands of new homes.
Palestinians regard settlement as a major obstacle to peace because the construction is on land they claim for part of their future state. Some 300,000 Israeli settlers live in communities scattered across the West Bank, in addition to 180,000 Jewish Israelis living in east Jerusalem, the area of the holy city claimed by the Palestinians as their capital.
Immediately after the restrictions expired at midnight, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Abbas to keep negotiating.
Under heavy US pressure, Netanyahu persuaded his hard-line Cabinet to agree to the slowdown last November in a bid to bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table after a breakdown of nearly two years.
The Palestinians initially dismissed this gesture by Israel because it did not halt construction on thousands of settlement apartments already under way.
President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the newly launched negotiations if Israel resumes building in the settlements. But with the stakes so high, Abbas said during a visit to Paris that he would not make any hasty decisions. He said he would consult with the Palestinian leadership before discussing the matter with representatives of the 22-member Arab League next Monday.
"We will not have any quick reactions," he said at a news conference standing beside French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "After this chain of meetings, we will be able to put out a position that clarifies the Palestinian and Arab opinion on this issue now that Israel has refused to freeze settlements."
The construction restrictions that the Israeli government ordered expired at midnight on Sunday with no sign Israel was heeding US and Palestinian pressure to keep the curbs in place.
That threw the peace talks, which only restarted three weeks ago, into doubt. But the Americans said they were still working with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to find a formula that would keep the negotiations alive.
Abbas yesterday urged Israel to extend the settlement slowdown for three or four more months to allow for a discussion of "fundamental issues" in negotiations.
Jewish settlers in the West Bank jubilantly marked the end of the construction curbs on Sunday, sending thousands of blue and white balloons - the colors of the Israeli flag - into the air and breaking ground on a new kindergarten. They vowed to build thousands of new homes.
Palestinians regard settlement as a major obstacle to peace because the construction is on land they claim for part of their future state. Some 300,000 Israeli settlers live in communities scattered across the West Bank, in addition to 180,000 Jewish Israelis living in east Jerusalem, the area of the holy city claimed by the Palestinians as their capital.
Immediately after the restrictions expired at midnight, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Abbas to keep negotiating.
Under heavy US pressure, Netanyahu persuaded his hard-line Cabinet to agree to the slowdown last November in a bid to bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table after a breakdown of nearly two years.
The Palestinians initially dismissed this gesture by Israel because it did not halt construction on thousands of settlement apartments already under way.
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