Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said after consulting Arab leaders in Cairo that there will be no further direct peace talks with Israel unless it renews a moratorium on settlement construction.
Abbas spoke in Cairo after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak today and Amre Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, yesterday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. His chief negotiator, Saeb Erakat, left from Cairo for Washington, where he will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to clarify a U.S. decision not to press Israel further on settlement construction, it said.
“We will not accept negotiations as long as settlement goes on,” Abbas told reporters, according to Wafa. He said Erakat went to Washington because “things can’t be solved on the phone.”
President Barack Obama is sending envoy George Mitchell back to the Middle East next week to determine whether it is still possible to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks that have been stalled since mid-September, Philip J. Crowley, the State Department spokesman, said yesterday.
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