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Sat, Oct 02, 2010 | Reuters | By Ali Sawafta

Abbas and the PLO playing the same card over and over again. In this handout image provided by the Palestinian Press Office (PPO), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a meeting of the Revolutionary Council of Fatah movement on February 16, 2009 in Ramallah, West Bank. Abbas rejected renewal of peace talks with Israel unless they stop settlement activity stating he would not start from point zero with the next Israeli government. (Photo: LIFE)

PLO says, No Talks Until Israel Halts Settlements

Direct talks with Israel will not resume unless it halts the building of Jewish settlements on occupied land, the Palestinian leadership said on Saturday.

U.S.-backed peace talks, launched a month ago in Washington, were plunged into crisis this week by the end of a 10-month Israeli moratorium on new settlement building in the West Bank. Israel has said it will not extend the freeze.

“The resumption of talks requires tangible steps, the first of them a freeze on settlements,” Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official, said after a meeting of the body’s executive committee in Ramallah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have held three rounds of face-to-face negotiations since September 2.

“The Palestinian leadership holds Israel responsible for obstructing the negotiations,” said Abed Rabbo. Abbas, head of the PLO, chaired the meeting.

U.S. envoy George Mitchell, who met Arab League head Amr Moussa and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo on Saturday, said the United States remained committed to a two-state solution despite challenges.

“Peace in the region and an independent and viable state for the Palestinian people will be realistically achieved through direct negotiations,” Mitchell told reporters.

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