Palestinians give US one month to curb Israeli settlements

SIRTE: The Palestinians, backed by Arab powers, said on Saturday they would give the United States one month to persuade Israel to halt the building of settlements in the West Bank or risk the collapse of peace talks.

The message, issued at an Arab League meeting in Libya, represented a reprieve for Washington as it tries to salvage 5-week-old talks stalled over Israel's refusal to extend a settlement freeze on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood.

Diplomats said Abbas and Arab foreign ministers had in a closed session mooted "alternatives" to a future resumption of face-to-face negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Abbas's proposals included seeking US and UN pledges of recognition for a future Palestine taking in all of the West Bank, and a threat by the president to step down over the impasse, diplomats said.

Following those discussions on Friday, the Arab ministers said they would reconvene on the issue in a month.

The Palestinians put the onus on the Obama administration. "We are giving the United States an opportunity to convince Israel to stop settlements. We are giving them a month which will be a period of political interaction between the United States and Israel," Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said.

Netanyahu has resisted international calls to renew the settlement moratorium, which expired last month.

Israel argues that the Palestinians should have entered negotiations earlier in the 10-month freeze and that the dispute would be irrelevant once peacemaking ripened to the point of demarcating borders.

Yet the moratorium wrangling masks far deeper divisions over what a final accord, should it ever be reached, would contain.

Source: REUTERS