PA: Arab League to decide fate of talks

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says the resumption of peace talks with the Israeli regime would be decided in an Arab League (AL) committee meeting.

"The decision to go or not to go to the negotiations will be taken during the Arab League's follow-up committee which is meeting on Saturday," said Erekat, quoted by Xinhua news agency on Friday.

He made the remarks after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she expected the two sides to kick-start stalled peace talks next week when US special envoy George Mitchell would return to the region.

Erekat, however, noted that Clinton's remarks were only "predictions," and "we should not deal with these predictions as a reality."

"We will be starting with proximity talks next week," she said during a meeting with visiting Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah.

Clinton had also called the Arab foreign ministers to endorse the resumption of a new round of talks in the Saturday meeting.

"Ultimately we want to see the parties in direct negotiations and working out all the difficult issues," she added.

In a Thursday address to the annual conference of another pro-Israeli lobby group in the US, the American Jewish Committee, the US secretary of state underlined the need for Arab states to "reach out to the Israeli public" and by resuming multilateral discussion on important regional issues, demonstrate that Israel's isolation in the region is ending, AP reported.

Clinton also complained that the US had become the "largest bilateral donor" to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA), calling on Arab states to do more in financing the PA. "Arab states need to share a greater portion of these responsibilities," she emphasized.

The US-mediated peace negotiations have been halted due to Israel's refusal to freeze settlement construction in the occupied territories.

Palestinians have repeatedly called for a clear framework for the talks and a timetable for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (Al-Quds), which was occupied by Israel in 1967.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125003§ionid=351020202.