AN ANNOUNCEMENT by the Middle East Quartet inviting Israel and the Palestinians to resume direct peace negotiations could come as early as today.
The expected invitation follows weeks of pressure from the United States and the European Union on Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to engage once again in face-to-face talks after more than one and a half years of deadlock on the Israeli-Palestinian track.
The Palestinian leader was in contact with US officials last night in an effort to finalise the details of the invitation from the Quartet, which is made up of representatives from the US, the EU, Russia and the United Nations.
It is expected that the invitation will be based on the principles issued by the group in March, and will set an ambitious two-year deadline to conclude a comprehensive peace deal setting up an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.
The Palestinians also insisted on a clause prohibiting unilateral steps during the talks.
Direct negotiations were suspended during the Gaza war in December 2008. In May indirect proximity talks via US mediation began with US envoy George Mitchell shuttling between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
The Palestinian leadership insisted that any return to direct talks be linked to a full Israeli freeze on building throughout the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu only agreed to a partial, 10-month moratorium which expires on September 26th.
Israeli officials had expressed concern that Mr Abbas would stall a decision to agree to direct talks until then in an effort to exert pressure on Israel to extend the existing building freeze.
The Arab League has already given Mr Abbas a green light to enter direct talks at a time he sees fit.
On Friday Mr Abbas met in Cairo with Egypt’s president Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah to discuss the possibility of renewing the direct negotiations.
He reportedly expressed concern that the US and EU would cut off funds to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank if it continued to reject direct negotiations with Israel.
President Barack Obama stated that a breakthrough in the Middle East peace process was one of his top priorities.
He badly needs a foreign policy success ahead of mid-term elections in the US in November.
Hamas and 10 other radical Palestinian groups issued a statement in Damascus yesterday declaring their opposition to the resumption of direct negotiations.
A joint statement accused the US of backing Israeli plans to expand settlements, control Jerusalem and maintain the blockade on Gaza.
Israeli army engineers, meanwhile, were yesterday hoisting away sections of a high concrete wall in Gilo, a settlement on the southern edge of Jerusalem near the West Bank town of Beit Jala. – (Additional reporting: Reuters)