30 July 2010 / REUTERS, RAMALLAH
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will tell the Arab League on Thursday indirect talks with Israel have not progressed enough to justify face-to-face peace negotiations, a Palestinian official said on Wednesday.
“Abbas will tell them that, until this moment, there is nothing to convince us to go to direct talks,” the official told Reuters. “There is nothing new.” Resisting US pressure, the Palestinian leader has said he first wants indirect talks to make progress, specifically on the issues of the security and borders of a Palestinian state he aims to found on land occupied by Israel since 1967. He will brief the Arab League’s peace process committee in Cairo on Thursday on the state of the current US-mediated indirect talks that began in May after the forum’s approval of a four-month timeframe, due to end in September. US President Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, last met Abbas on July 17 in Ramallah. Palestinian officials said that at that session, Abbas turned down a US request to begin direct negotiations.
