New York: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he would not take part in US-backed peace talks "for a single day" if Israel did not extend a freeze on colony building at the month's end.
"The negotiations will continue as long as the colony (construction) remains frozen, but I am not prepared to negotiate an agreement for a single day more," Abbas told AFP.
Abbas is due to give a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York this week about "efforts to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land since 1967 to create an independent Palestinian state with [occupied] Jerusalem as its capital," his spokesman Nabeel Abu Rudaina said.
Israel and the Palestinians began long-awaited peace negotiations under US mediation on September 2.
But so far Israel has stubbornly refused to extend the partial 10-month ban on new construction, and the Palestinians have vowed to pull out of the talks if building resumes.
The deadline for the end of Israel's freeze on colony construction is widely accepted as September 26, exactly 10 months and a day after the original cabinet decision.
