Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) – As Israelis ended a moratorium and resumed construction across the West Bank, ousted Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Monday urged Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas to immediately boycott Washington-sponsored truce talks.
Addressing his supporters from Damascus, Meshaal said that he urged his Palestinian brothers to halt talks with Israel, which had resumed settlement construction immediately after the freeze ended on Sunday.
“To negotiate without a position of strength is absurd,” Meshaal stressed and added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not bring peace in the region.
Palestinian President Abbas, who had set extension of ban as a precondition of talks, has decided to delay the talks’ boycott for a week until he discusses the matter with Arab leaders and Palestinian experts.
Talking to reporters in Paris on Monday, he said he would take up this issue during his meeting with Arab foreign ministers in the first week of October and with Fatah movement and the Palestine Liberation Organisation later this week.
In Washington, 87 American senators on Monday called on U.S. President Barack Obama to put pressure on Abbas not to boycott the talks, which have reached at a critical stage and must stay at the table.
“Neither side should make threats to leave just as the talks are getting started,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Obama. “We urge you to continue to emphasize to Israeli and Palestinian leaders that direct talks, while difficult, provide the best hope of reaching a meaningful and lasting peace agreement,” the lawmakers added.
President Obama’s office said that Israel’s decision had upset the White House. U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell, meanwhile, visited the region in the last minute effort to save direct truce talks, which started after 20 months. The European Union as well as the United Nations condemned the Israeli action, while U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon termed Jewish nation’s actions as “provocative”.
Responding to the international criticism, Israeli Foreign Minister Avider Lieberman accused Palestinians of wasting the moratorium, which was a unilateral gesture of goodwill. “The Palestinians wasted time and completely refused to accept this gesture and accused Israel that it’s a fraud, that it’s not serious,” the minister added.
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