“The relationship has deteriorated to this stage where the US is trying to save this peace process with the last attempt -- by the way, mark my words -- this will be the last attempt in order to see if it can be a tool to make decisions between Palestinians and Israelis,” Saeb Erekat told Israel Army Radio.US envoy George Mitchell held talks in the West Bank city of Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas following meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on restarting statehood negotiations.
Both sides have agreed to indirect contacts to revive talks suspended since December 2008, in a boost to US President Barack Obama’s difficult quest to end decades of conflict. “Today President Abbas will hand a written response to Senator Mitchell about our acceptance of the proposal of the proximity talks,” Erekat told Reuters.
But many observers and politicians doubt the negotiations, in which Mitchell is widely expected to shuttle, at least initially, between Jerusalem and Ramallah, can succeed where years of talks have failed. In news that coincided with the fresh push for peace, Israel said it approved building 112 new Jewish homes in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Ilit. The construction, it said, was part of an on-going project that was not included in a partial West Bank settlement building freeze that Netanyahu announced in November under US pressure. “The Israeli government has begun planting landmines on the path to indirect negotiations,” Mohammed Dahlan, a senior official in Abbas’s Fatah movement, said in response.
Borders
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) endorsed the indirect talks on Sunday, following Arab League backing last week for four months of negotiations which the Palestinians say should focus on security and borders of a future state.
Abbas had demanded a complete halt to Israeli settlement building as a condition for resuming talks with Israel and has rejected its 10-month limited freeze as insufficient. But the PLO and Arab League decisions gave the Western-backed leader political support for re-engaging with Israel without a total settlement moratorium.
