Washington offers 'new form' of peace talks

Dubai: The US has offered to re-launch the Middle East peace talks in a "new form". Palestinians, however, have insisted on freezing Israeli colonial activities in the West Bank before any revival of the 19-year-old peace process, a top Palestinian official told Gulf News.

The new US offer was put forward during US envoy George Mitchell's meeting with Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Tuesday.

"They [Americans] don't want to go back to the direct talks," Nabeel Shaath, a prominent politician and member of the Palestinian negotiation team, told Gulf News.

"They want to hold separate talks with us, and to hold other talks with Israelis. They don't want [even] proximity talks," he said.

"But we wanted a total halt to the colony building on Palestinian lands and that the negotiations to be based on clear terms of reference," Shaath added.

"We want tangible progress, and this will not happen without an Israeli withdrawal [from Palestinian lands], and before that a freeze on colony activities," Shaath said.

Last week, the US admitted to its failure to secure a freeze on colony construction. Shaath said Mitchell renewed Washington's commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state, and its view that Israel's colonial activities were illegal.

The Ramallah talks came on the eve of an Arab foreign ministers meeting on the status of the peace process in Cairo.