BERLIN – Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that peace talks with Israel could be restarted if the Israeli government was prepared to put a stop to settlement building for “a certain period”.
Mr Abbas has insisted that settlement expansion be halted in the West Bank before negotiations stalled since 2008 may resume. He had in the past rejected a limited, 10-month construction freeze ordered by Israel in November as insufficient.
“If Israel is prepared to stop settlement building for a certain period . . . talks could be restarted,” Mr Abbas said at a joint news conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
He did not expand on how long the period would be, though in an interview in yesterday's edition of the Guardian, he offered to begin direct talks with Israel in exchange for a complete three-month settlement freeze.
– (Reuters)
