AHEAD OF the start of indirect peace talks, expected later this week, Israeli and Palestinian officials have warned that actions by the other side may scuttle the negotiations.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians were linking participation in the renewed talks to an Israeli settlement freeze. “If Israel builds one house in the West Bank, Palestinians will immediately stop the negotiations,” he said.
Israel’s deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon warned that the boycott of Israeli products originating in West Bank settlements, announced last week by the Palestinian Authority, may damage prospects of progress in the proximity talks and the building of mutual trust.
The indirect negotiations are expected to begin after the Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee endorses the move. Arab League representatives convened in Cairo over the weekend and gave Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas the green light to conduct four months of talks, after which progress will be reviewed.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu welcomed the Cairo decision saying Israel had always been in favour of direct negotiations without preconditions.
The last time the two sides held peace talks was January 2009. Agreement was reached to hold indirect proximity talks in March but the plans were immediately put on hold following an Israeli announcement that another 1,600 homes would be built in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ramat Shlomo.
US envoy George Mitchell will arrive in the region today in an effort to wrap up the final details ahead of the resumption of the talks. Mr Netanyahu travels to Egypt today for talks with President Hosni Mubarak, who has acted as a key mediator in the past.
Mr Abbas said the Palestinians would press during the talks for a restoration of the situation on the ground to what it was at the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000.
This means Israel must hand back large areas of the West Bank to Palestinian control and allow certain Palestinian institutions to operate in east Jerusalem.
Israeli president Shimon Peres struck an optimistic note yesterday, saying Israel sought an independent, successful and affluent Palestinian state.
“The gaps between the two sides are narrow and we are interested in an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel,” he said. “Israel itself chose the two-state solution.”