Israel rejects deadline to talks with Palestinians

Wed, 06 Jan 2010

Jerusalem - Israel said Wednesday it would not accept a deadline to peace negotiations with the Palestinians. "Nobody can take seriously any demands by the Palestinians or by others that a deadline should be set," Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon told a gathering in Jerusalem.

Deadlines to peace negotiations had in the past proved "counterproductive," he argued.

The Palestinians would have no incentive to make concessions and reach a compromise if a deadline was put in place to the establishment of a Palestinian state, he warned.

He said he expected no progress in the attempts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at least until February. The talks were broken off last year as Israel held new elections.

Israeli media reported earlier this week about a new US plan, which set a two-year deadline to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

The negotiations were broken off last year as Israel held new elections. Abbas has raised preconditions for holding the talks with the new Israeli premier, the hardline Benjamin Netanyahu, seeking guarantees such talks would be meaningful and not open-ended.

But Ayalon argued that Netanyahu had already done "more than" his share by expressing support for a demilitarized Palestinian state in a speech in June, and by declaring a partial, 10-month suspension of Israeli construction in the occupied West Bank.

"We are waiting for a Palestinian step," he said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/302410,israel-rejects-deadline-to-talks-with-palestinians.html.