Abbas, it is not yet time

Ma'an - Nasser Lahham

Published today 02/10/2010 11:59
 
On the presidential plane, President Mahmoud Abbas sat among assembled journalists and said this would be the last time we traveled with him. We were all silent.

At 32,000 feet above Turkey, a stream of questions came after the stunned silence, but he was reticent to answer. I looked to his advisor, Akram Haniyeh, searching for a clue, but his body language revealed nothing, anything he knew was concealed.

Mitchell Leaves Middle East, Talks Suspended

Saturday October 02, 2010 06:14 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

United States Middle East Peace Envoy, George Mitchell, left the Middle East on Friday without achieving any breakthrough in the troubled direct Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

Mitchell could not convince Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to extend the freeze on the illegal Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He said that direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are on hold, but reiterated the commitment of the U.S. Administration to support indirect talks between the two sides.

Speaking to reporters following his meeting with President, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah, Mitchell said that “both Abbas and Netanyahu agreed to keep the talks confidential”, away from the media, and that all parties have the same goal of achieving comprehensive Middle East peace.

Dr. Saeb Erekat, head of the Negotiations Department at the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), stated that the Obama administration informed the Palestinian side that it will continue its mediation efforts between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

During a press conference with Mitchell, Erekat said that the Palestinian stance is clear; Israel must halt its illegal settlement activities in order to give the peace process a chance to advance.

Erekat also stated that the Palestinian and American sides will continue their talks, and that The United States vowed to practice all needed efforts in to achieve a two-state solution.

Mitchell also held a meeting with Netanyahu but the meeting did not lead to any positive outcome as the Israeli Prime Minister did not agree to halt settlement activities in the occupied territories.

In related news, the Arab League had officially postponed a meeting in which Abbas was to inform Arab leaders on the latest developments in peace talks with Israel.

Arab leaders were also to make a decision regarding the fate of direct talks with Israel, especially amidst ongoing settlement activities in the occupied territories.

The Middle East News Agency in Egypt reported that Cairo called for a meeting on the sidelines of the urgent Arab Summit scheduled to be held on October 9 in Sirt Libyan city.

Palestinians demand settlement freeze for direct talks to resume

Saturday, October 2, 2010, France 24 & AFP -

Senior Palestinians leaders have ruled out direct talks with Israel as long settlement construction continued on occupied territory, a top Palestinian official said on Saturday.

The Palestinian leadership on Saturday urged president Mahmud Abbas to quit US-backed peace talks over the illegal Israeli settlement construction, his spokesman said.
  
"Our position has not changed. We will not hold negotiations while (the illegal Israeli) settlement activity continues," Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP after a special meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and top officials from Abbas's Fat'h movement.
  
He added, however, that the Palestinians would continue consultations with US mediators and would present the results of those talks to an Arab League meeting on Friday in the Libyan city of Sirte.
  
Abbas had said he would make his final decision on whether to pull out of the talks, which were launched in Washington one month ago today, after he consults with the Arab foreign ministers.
  
The PLO, a Fat'h-dominated umbrella organization headed by Abbas that includes most Palestinian factions but not Hamas, is the Palestinians' sole international representative.
  
Fat'h, meanwhile, appeared to have adopted an even harder line on the negotiations, with one member of the movement's central committee suggesting the international community reconsider Israel's existence.
  
"The ball is now in the court of the international community to stop the unilateral aggression on Palestinian lands on which a Palestinian state must be established," said Jibril Al-Rajoub told reporters.
  
"If the world cannot do that, then it should reexamine the legitimacy of the continued existence of the state of Israel, which was established with an international birth certificate."
  
The Arab League Follow-up Committee on the peace talks will meet to form its own position on Friday in Sirte, officials in Cairo said, after the meeting was twice postponed.
  
Abbas -- who previously secured the endorsement of the group of Arab foreign ministers for launching indirect peace talks and then again for upgrading to direct talks -- plans to make his announcement after the meeting.
  
The Palestinian leader had frequently threatened to walk out of the direct negotiations launched exactly one month ago if Israel allowed a 10-month moratorium on new West Bank settler homes to expire on September 26.
  
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed the restrictions to end despite US pressure, but has said he would restrain settlement construction and repeatedly urged the Palestinians to continue the talks.
  
US envoy George Mitchell held meetings with both sides last week before heading off to meet with Arab leaders in a bid to keep the peace talks alive, but Abbas's spokesman said Saturday there had been "no breakthrough."
  
The Palestinians have long viewed the presence of some 500,000 Israelis in more than 120 illegal settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem as a major obstacle to the establishment of a viable state.
  
The international community considers all settlements illegal.