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Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt - Source: Reuters -
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Arab League chief Amr Moussa said that Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas had told him he would not enter indirect talks with
Israel, only days after the Palestinian side had agreed to the
contacts.
The about-turn puts on hold US efforts to bring together Israel
and the Palestinians in so-called proximity talks.
The proposed talks, the Palestinian chief negotiator said this
week, were a last chance to keep the Middle East peace process
alive.
The decision came after Israel announced on Tuesday it would erect
1,600 settler homes in an area of the occupied West Bank it annexed
to Jerusalem.
Abbas had only agreed to the talks on condition that Israel
imposed a Jewish settlement freeze.
"The Palestinian president decided he will not enter into those
negotiations now ... the Palestinian side is not ready to negotiate
under the present circumstances," Moussa told a news conference
following an urgent meeting of Arab delegates at the Arab League
headquarters in Cairo.
He said Abbas had conveyed the decision to him by phone.
"The talks have already stopped," Moussa said later.
No immediate comment was available from Israeli or Palestinian
officials.
US Vice President Joe Biden publicly scolded Israel over the
settlement plan, saying it was undermining peace efforts after
Palestinians agreed to US-mediated talks.
Israel also this week approved construction of 112 new Jewish homes
in the Beitar Ilit settlement in the occupied West Bank, on land
Israel captured in a 1967 war.
Arab League delegates said the resumption of the talks hinged on
Israel halting settlement expansion in East Jerusalem and occupied
territories.
Moussa said the Arab League's backing, won last week, for four
months of proximity talks was now under reconsideration and Arab
ministers would meet in a few days to make a decision.
"In case of the failure to halt Israeli actions which are changing
the population structure and geographic composition of the occupied
Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem, and to withdraw
the announcement for the construction of hundreds of settlements in
occupied Jerusalem, the committee concludes that the proposed talks
are irrelevant," Moussa said.
Abbas broke off peace talks with Israel after Israel's offensive in
the Gaza Strip in December 2008.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November ordered a
10-month halt to new housing starts in West Bank settlements but
exempted areas Israel considers part of Jerusalem and projects for
Jewish homes in the eastern sector of the city, captured in
1967.
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