PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT Mahmoud Abbas yesterday reiterated his threat to pull out of negotiations if Israeli settlement construction continues in the West Bank.
“Of course we don’t want to end negotiations. We want to con- tinue, but if colonisation continues we will be forced to end them,” he said.
He added that he will make his “historic decision” on the talks after an Arab foreign ministers meeting on October 4th. “So [Israeli prime minister Binyamin] Netanyahu has a week to decide.”
US envoy George Mitchell was slated to meet Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak last night as Mr Barak has advanced compromise formulae not endorsed by Mr Netanyahu and the cabinet.
Mr Mitchell is also due to hold discussions with Mr Abbas and Mr Netanyahu with the aim of rescuing direct negotiations resumed early this month after a suspension of 19 months.
Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said Mr Abbas wants to hear what Mr Mitchell has to say about Israel’s refusal to extend a partial curb on new construction in settlements. “Maybe the Israelis will reassess their position and see the whole world is against the continuation of settlement activities.”
Dr Shaath, a senior figure in Fatah, added that “there are no negotiations” taking place at present.
He said there would be no negotiations until Israel halted settlements. Dr Shaath added that the Palestinian side wanted to give the Israelis and the Americans a few days to find a formula for renewing the embargo which expired on Sunday at midnight.
Palestinian media spokesman Ghassan Khatib said that US president Barack Obama is doing his utmost to establish a process which will result in a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. “The situation is very tough for Obama,” Dr Khatib stated. “If the Palestinian side withdraws now, it will be the second time Obama has failed on the issue of settlements.”
In June 2009 the president called on Israel to halt continued settlement construction in the occupied territories. But Israel ignored his call.
While there was unity in the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, the Israeli government appeared divided. Mr Netanyahu announced that he had not approved of the address to the UN General Assembly given by foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman. Mr Lieberman had said a final deal with the Palestinians would involve the transfer of Israel’s Palestinian citizens to the Palestinian state in exchange for the evacuation of Israeli Jews from settlements.
** The Israeli navy yesterday boarded and commandeered the Gaza-bound yacht Irene. The Irenewas carrying 10 Jewish peace activists from Germany, Britain, the US and Israel. They were handcuffed and detained and their vessel towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod where it joined half a dozen other ships confiscated for trying to break Israel's blockade of the strip. At the end of May Israeli commandos boarded a Turkish ferry, killing nine Turkish citizens.
Meanwhile, Irish Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire is to be deported by Israel today after being refused entry at Tel Aviv’s airport yesterday. She was banned from Israel after taking part in the Gaza flotilla.