Arabs reject Middle East peace talks without US plan Skip to main content

Arabs reject Middle East peace talks without US plan


Qatari PM chairs the Arab foreign ministers meeting as Amr Moussa (L) and Mahmoud Abbas look on, Cairo, 15 December Ministers say "the direction of [peace] talks has become ineffective"

Israel and the Palestinians

Arab foreign ministers have rejected further Palestinian-Israeli peace talks without a "serious offer" from the US on ending the Middle East conflict.
They announced their decision following a briefing from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at a meeting in Cairo.
Direct talks collapsed this month over Israel's refusal to stop building settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The Arab League ministers said they would seek a UN Security Council resolution against settlement building.
"Resuming the negotiations will be conditioned on receiving a serious offer that guarantees an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict," the ministers said in a statement read by Arab League chief Amr Moussa.
Amr Moussa (R) and George Mitchell in Cairo, 15 December George Mitchell has promised "substantive, two-way conversations" in the coming days
The group follow-up committee on the Middle East peace process "sees that the direction of talks has become ineffective and it has decided against the resumption of negotiations", Mr Moussa said.
The ministers also decided "to bring up the issue of Israeli settlements again to the Security Council", wanting the UN body to adopt a resolution "that confirms... the illegal nature of this activity and that would oblige Israel to stop it".
They called on the US, which has vetoed resolutions against Israel in the past, not to obstruct such a move.
Settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
US plan Earlier on Wednesday, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell promised "substantive" talks with Israel and the Palestinians to salvage the peace talks.

Israeli settlements on Palestinian land

  • 485,000 settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, alongside 2.5 million Palestinians
  • 12 settlements in East Jerusalem and 121 others in the West Bank, covering 40% of the territory
  • Another 100 settlement "outposts" not authorised by the Israeli government in the West Bank
Source: 2008 official statistics compiled by Btselem
"In the days ahead, our discussions with both sides will be substantive, two-way conversations with an eye towards making real progress in the next few months," Mr Mitchell said in Cairo.
The two sides need to "rebuild confidence, demonstrate their seriousness and hopefully find enough common ground on which to eventually relaunch direct negotiations," he said.
Mr Mitchell had returned to the region on Monday after Washington admitted that it had failed to secure a new Israeli settlement freeze - a precondition laid out by Palestinian officials before they return to the US-brokered direct talks.
The Palestinians want US guarantees ensuring "a complete halt to settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem", Mr Abbas reiterated on Wednesday.
Statehood push They have also called for US recognition of a Palestinian state based on Israel's borders before the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
But in Washington late on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives approved a resolution opposing any unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood.
The resolution - which is declarative in nature and has no binding status - criticised Palestinian efforts at "circumventing the negotiation process" and called upon foreign governments not to extend such recognition, press reports said.
Direct peace talks resumed in Washington in September after a break of almost two years, but broke down just weeks later over the settlement issue.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12007592
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chronology of the Press in Burma

1836 – 1846 * During this period the first English-language newspaper was launched under British-ruled Tenasserim, southern  Burma . The first ethnic Karen-language and Burmese-language newspapers also appear in this period.     March 3, 1836 —The first English-language newspaper,  The Maulmain Chronicle , appears in the city of Moulmein in British-ruled Tenasserim. The paper, first published by a British official named E.A. Blundell, continued up until the 1950s. September 1842 —Tavoy’s  Hsa-tu-gaw  (the  Morning Star ), a monthly publication in the Karen-language of  Sgaw ,  is established by the Baptist mission. It is the first ethnic language newspaper. Circulation reached about three hundred until its publication ceased in 1849. January 1843 —The Baptist mission publishes a monthly newspaper, the Christian  Dhamma  Thadinsa  (the  Religious Herald ), in Moulmein. Supposedly the first Burmese-language newspaper, it continued up until the first year of the second Angl
Post a Comment
Read more

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do
1 comment
Read more

Is 160 enough? One Indian man's family

By Sumnima Udas , CNN October 31, 2011 -- Updated 0857 GMT (1657 HKT) Ziona, center, with his has 39 wives, 86 children and 35 grandchildren in rural Baktwang village, India. STORY HIGHLIGHTS One man in India is the patriarch of a family of 160 in rural India Ziona, who only goes by his first name, has 39 wives, 86 children and 35 grandchildren. Ziona's father, Chana, founded the Christian sect in Baktwang that promotes polygamy "I never wanted to get married but that's the path God has chosen for me" Mizoram, India (CNN) -- The world's population hits 7 billion this week, but Ziona, the patriarch of what may be the biggest family in the world, is not bothered. "I don't care about overpopulation in India ... I believe God has chosen us to be like this (have big families). Those who are born into this family don't want to leave this tradition so we just keep growing and growing," he says with a smile. Ziona, who only goes by his f
Post a Comment
Read more