Region | Palestinian Territories
Last chance to resolve Israel-Palestine conflict
Arab ministers agree in Cairo to back indirect Palestinian-Israeli talks
- By Layelle Saad, GCC/Middle East Editor
- Published: 00:00 March 4, 2010
- Image Credit: EPA
- According to UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE will "respect international sanctions" against Iran, if the crisis is not solved diplomatically.
Dubai: Arab states will back indirect Palestinian-Israeli talks but say there should be a four-month time limit.
Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs, joined his Arab counterparts in Cairo late Tuesday ahead of the Arab summit in Libya scheduled for later this month.
"Despite a lack of conviction over Israel's seriousness, [Arab foreign ministers] will give indirect talks a chance, for the final time, in order to facilitate US efforts, within four months," Arab League Chief Amr Mousa said.
"There was a consensus that Israel is not interested in peace, the proof being what is taking place on occupied land ... acts that are meant to provoke the Arab and American sides," Mousa added.
Colonies
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to join the negotiating table as long as Israel continues building colonies.
There has been no let-up in Israeli colony construction outside the limited ten-month moratorium Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in November.
A plan for 600 new homes in a Jewish colony in Occupied East Jerusalem and the addition of two religious shrines in the West Bank to Israel's "National Heritage" project have further incited tensions.
US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell proposed US-brokered indirect talks to get out of the current deadlock.
The ministers agreed there were "legitimate questions about the effectiveness of the US role".
"Israel wishes to blame the Palestinian side, saying that the Palestinians do not want to enter into negotiations, but we must reveal Israel's true position before the international community and the American administration," Oman's top diplomat Yousuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah told reporters.
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