(Jerusalem Post) Tovah Lazaroff and Khaled Abu Toameh - In Ramallah on Sunday, PA President Mahmoud Abbas told U.S. envoy David Hale that the Palestinians would not hold direct talks with Israel unless it froze West Bank settlement activity and stopped construction in east Jerusalem Jewish neighborhoods. In addition, Abbas said, Israel must accept the pre-1967 lines as the basis for a two-state solution. "The fundamental reason for a current impasse in the peace process is the decision taken by the Palestinians to refuse to engage, to refuse to negotiate," said an Israeli official on Sunday. "They have been piling on preconditions that were never placed on the negotiations before [such as a construction freeze]....Piling on preconditions that prevent the resumption of talks is in no way beneficial to the cause of peace....It is high time that the Palestinians heed the Quartet's call and agree to the resumption of peace talks without preconditions....For the time being the Palestinian leadership is wasting everyone's time and doing their own people a disservice."
2011-11-14 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive