AMMAN/CAIRO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that the failure of US envoy George Mitchell to secure a deal on Jewish settlements means the resumption of peace talks with Israel is on hold.
“The road is now blocked,” Abbas told reporters after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.
Mitchell left Israel on Friday after failing to secure a key deal on Jewish settlements. He had spent the day shuttling between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas, after meeting both leaders earlier this week.
Abbas said that the onus was now on Israel to clear the way for peace negotiations, adding that Mitchell will resume talks with the Middle East players after the UN General Assembly next week.
“There is no more work (for Mitchell) with the Western or Palestinian sides because we are complying with all our duties. The focus has to be on the Israeli side,” he said. Abbas also met Jordan’s King Abdallah on Saturday in the Red Sea port of Aqaba. The two leaders called on the world community to prevent Israel from “derailing the peace process” by insisting on the continuation of settlement activities, according to a royal court statement issued in Amman.
“The two leaders believe that the world community must now take responsibilities by preventing Israel from scuttling current efforts aimed at relaunching serious and effective negotiations that can lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” the statement said.
“They warned that losing the opportunity currently available for achieving peace will jeopardize security and stability in the region,” it added.
Abbas and Abdallah pointed out that Israel’s continued building of settlements in Jerusalem and other Palestinian territories “represented the main obstacle for achieving progress in peace efforts.”
The two Arab leaders also urged the United States “to play a leading role in the peace negotiations so as to ensure that they tackled all final-status issues in accordance with a specific timetable and lead to the setting up of an independent Palestinian state.”
Mitchell had been trying to broker a compromise on the thorny issue that would have led to a three-way meeting between Netanyahu, Abbas and US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the General Assembly. He had been aiming to secure some kind of Israeli moratorium that would be acceptable to the Palestinians and enable the resumption of peace talks that were suspended in late December.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said on Friday there was no current plan for President Obama to host a summit next week with Netanyahu and Abbas during the UN General Assembly in New York. “There has been no agreement to have a trilateral meeting. I know there has been a lot of speculation about such a meeting. I will say this is an ongoing process, the discussions are going to continue,” he said.
— With input from agencies
