Saturday 2 October 2010

PLO Urges Abbas to Quit “Peace Talks” over Settlements


02/10/2010 The Palestinian leadership on Saturday urged president Mahmud Abbas to quit US-backed so-called “peace talks” over Israeli settlement construction.

"Our position has not changed. We will not hold negotiations while settlement activity continues," Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP after a special meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and top officials from the Fatah movement.

He added, however, that the Palestinians would continue consultations with US mediators and would present the results of those talks to an Arab League meeting on Friday in the Libyan city of Sirte.

Abbas had said he would make his final decision on whether to pull out of the talks, which were launched in Washington one month ago today, after he consults with the Arab foreign ministers.

Fatah, meanwhile, appeared to have adopted an even harder line on the negotiations, with one member of the movement's central committee suggesting the international community reconsider Israel's existence.

"The ball is now in the court of the international community to stop the unilateral aggression on Palestinian lands on which a Palestinian state must be established," Fatah official Jibril Rajub told reporters. "If the world cannot do that, then it should reexamine the legitimacy of the continued existence of the state of Israel, which was established with an international birth certificate."

The Arab League Follow-up Committee on the peace talks will meet to form its own position on Friday in Sirte, officials in Cairo said, after the meeting was twice postponed.

Abbas -- who previously secured the endorsement of the group of Arab foreign ministers for launching indirect peace talks and then again for upgrading to direct talks -- plans to make his announcement after the meeting.
(AFP)

PFLP boycotts PLO meeting

[ 02/10/2010 - 02:50 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has announced it would not attend the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee meeting called for by de facto Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

A spokesman for the front explained that it had earlier announced it would suspend participation in PLO meetings out of reservations over its policies in dealing with the US and Israeli positions.

He pointed out that the decision was also in protest over the state of political and institutional deterioration in the Palestinian arena, which had its toll on the Palestinian national decision and on its ability to face challenges confronting the Palestinian people.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

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