'PA won't react to freeze offer until officially updated'
By ASSOCIATED PRESS, JPOST.COM STAFF
LAST UPDATED: 11/14/2010 10:07
Abbas spokesman says PA has not received information on Israeli, US plan; Erekat says US failed to convince Netanyahu to halt construction, expresses strong reservations about temporary freeze.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat gives a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Photo: AP
The Palestinian Authority has not received any information regarding a US plan to continue the West Bank building freeze, Palestinian Authority President Mahmood Abbas's spokesman, Nabil abu Radina, said Sunday according to an Army Radio report.
Abbas's spokesperson added that the Palestinian Authority will not release its official standpoint on the subject until Abbas receives an official update from the US.
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'US failed to convince Netanyahu to halt construction'
Earlier on Sunday, Chief Palestinian
negotiator Saeb Erekat expressed strong reservations about the US proposal, because it would only apply to the West Bank and not east
Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital. But Erekat did not
reject it outright, saying the Palestinians would consult among
themselves and with Arab leaders.
Erekat said the Americans had
not officially informed the Palestinians about the details of the
proposal, but "they know we have a major problem in not including east
Jerusalem."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will put the US plan before
Palestinian decision-makers and call for an immediate session of Arab
League officials before announcing an official decision, Erekat said.
The
principles of the agreement designed to restart peace talks with the
Palestinians, were relayed by Netanyahu to his inner cabinet, a forum of seven
ministers, on Saturday night and explained to the full cabinet on
Sunday.
Peace talks ground to a halt, just three weeks
after they began at the White House, after Israel resisted U.S. and
Palestinian pressure to extend a 10-month moratorium on new construction
in the West Bank that expired Sept. 26. The Palestinians refused to
return to the negotiating table if construction resumed on land they
want for a future state and gave the U.S. until later this month to come
up with a formula to salvage the talks.
The diplomatic climate
soured even further last week after Israel pressed ahead with plans to
build 1,300 apartments in east Jerusalem.
In a seven-hour meeting
with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the United States last week,
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that in exchange for a
new construction moratorium, the White House would ask Congress to
supply Israel with 20 stealth fighter jets worth $3 billion, an Israeli
official said.
The US would also commit to fight international
resolutions that would be critical of Israel or unilaterally advance the
Palestinian quest for statehood, he said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending the presentation of the deal to the Cabinet on Sunday.
Under
the proposal, the US has agreed not to seek a further extension of the
building moratorium after it expires. The idea is that the 90-day period
would give the two sides time to work out an agreement on borders
between Israel and a future Palestinian state, thereby making it clear
where Israel can continue to build and where it cannot.