Paleostinian president the ineffectual 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.| So much for the negotiations. Not that it matters anyway, since neither party cares at this point, and anyway Hamas has vowed not to be bound by any decisions. |
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 Paleostinian land since 1967 to create an independent Paleostinian state with [occupied] Jerusalem as its capital," his front man Nabeel Abu Rudaina said.
Israel and the Paleostinians 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 Paleostinians 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.