U.S. denies deal with Israel on halting settlements

A senior U.S. official denied that his administration has reached an agreement with Israel on halting settlement activities, Palestinian sources in Ramallah said Friday.

The sources said that the U.S. denial was made during a meeting held in Ramallah late on Thursday night between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and David Hill, deputy to U.S. Middle Eastpeace envoy George Mitchell.

The meeting between Abbas and Hill was held shortly after Mitchell held talks in London on Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the issue of settlement freeze in Palestinian territories.

Saeb Erekat, a veteran Palestinian peace negotiator, told Palestinian state-run Wafa news agency that Hill briefed Abbas on the meeting between Mitchell and Netanyahu in London.

"We were told that the talks with Israel (on the issue of settlement) will continue in Washington, and Mitchell is planning to visit in the region next month," said Erekat.

Abbas reiterated to the U.S. official that there are commitments that every party has to honor in the Middle East Roadmap peace plan, mainly including halting the Jewish settlement activities, according to Wafa.

"Halting settlement activities is not only a Palestinian condition, but an international one, and the peace negotiations should restart from where it had stopped," said Erekat.