RAMALLAH: A senior Palestinian official yesterday slammed Israel’s lack of seriousness to hammer out a peace agreement before the end of year 2008.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said that “the entire world sees the need for the establishment of a Palestinian state, but unfortunately Israel continues to stall for time and is displaying a lack of seriousness, and so far we have not agreed on any of the core issues.”
However, he said that the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams will resume their discussions in the US in 10 days’ time. Abu Rudeina added the forthcoming meeting was aimed at giving a stronger push to the staggering peace talks between the two parties since the peace negotiations were launched at the US-hosted Annapolis peace conference.
The Palestinian Authority and the Jewish state then agreed to reach a deal paving the way for the creation of a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel before US President George W. Bush quits the White House. The construction of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank hinders the talks as the Palestinians consider the two territories as part of their future statehood. He warned that there is not much time left for the two sides to come to an accord.
