RAMALLAH/CAIRO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday said there will be no peace talks until Israel recognizes a Palestinian state and implements the first article of the road map peace plan -— halting all settlement activity in Palestinian territotries. “We are not inventing new terms and are not placing any conditions, but Israel has to carry out the first article of the road map which it (Israel) accepted more than seven years ago,” Abbas said.
Abbas referred to the US-backed peace guideline under which Israel is obliged to stop all settlement activities in the Palestinian territories, including “natural growth,” reopening the Palestinian Authority (PA) offices in East Jerusalem and withdrawing forces from inside the PA-controlled areas.
He said the Palestinians had implemented their obligations the road map outlined, including dismantling armed groups in the West Bank.
US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell said in Oslo yesterday that Palestinians must be given the means to establish a viable state quickly, and that Washington would do its best to bring it about. Meanwhile, a Hamas delegation arrived in Egypt yesterday for talks on reconciliation efforts with the rival Fatah faction, an official said.
The delegation, which includes former Foreign Minister Mahmud Zahar, crossed into Egypt from Gaza ahead of the scheduled arrival in Cairo of exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, the official said.
The delegation is due to hold talks today with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, the main go-between in the Palestinian reconciliation efforts, the official MENA news agency reported.
— With input from agencies
