(Ha'aretz) Barak Ravid - The Palestinians' "all or nothing" strategy of insisting on a total freeze on West Bank settlement construction risks paralyzing Middle East peace talks in their infancy, Israeli officials close to the negotiations warned Tuesday. Senior officials in the prime minister's office said they expected the Palestinians to avoid extreme responses that could derail the U.S.-sponsored peace process. "This attitude of all or nothing has over the past year led to a stagnation, with the result that in nine months of construction freeze, there were no negotiations," one high-ranking official told Ha'aretz. "The aim of this trip [to Egypt] and the meeting with Abu Mazen [Abbas] is to find a way to continue the talks, not to blow them out of the water," the Israeli official said. "If we can't reach agreement on a small issue like the settlements, what are our chances of striking a deal over borders and refugees?"
2010-09-14 07:22:18Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive