PLO statement on peace talks, Hamas reax

(2 Oct 2010) Ramallah, West Bank 1. Pull out from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to wide of meeting 2. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Yasser Abed Rabbo, Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) member and aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: "The Palestinian leadership considers the Israeli government responsible for delaying negotiations and for thwarting the efforts of the US administration and the Quartet and the international community. Resuming negotiations demands concrete steps that proves (Israel's) seriousness; first of all, halting settlement building, without restrictions or exceptions." Gaza City, Gaza Strip 3. Set up of Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri 4. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas Spokesman: "We in the Hamas movement consider the conditional policy followed by the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah movement - which is, if there is settlement activity there will not be negotiations - this policy is not acceptable anymore because settlement activities continue, are increasing and are going up in a concentrated way, so this demands an official announcement stopping negotiations with the Israeli occupation and taking practical steps to protect Palestinian lands and the Palestinians from the crimes of settlers and the Israeli occupation." 5. Abu Zuhri standing in street reading document STORYLINE: Senior Palestinian politicians on Saturday backed President Mahmoud Abbas' demand to link peace talks to restrictions on Israeli settlement building, delivering a new setback to bogged down US efforts to salvage the negotiations. The announcement came after a three-hour meeting on Saturday of dozens of leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Abbas' Fatah movement. A senior Abbas aide said there would be no negotiations as long as settlement building continues. "Resuming negotiations demands concrete steps that proves (Israel's) seriousness; first of all, halting settlement building, without restrictions or exceptions," said PLO member Yasser Abed Rabbo. However, this may not be the last word from the Palestinians. A final decision is only expected at an Arab League summit in Libya next weekend. This gives US envoy George Mitchell a few more days to try to broker a compromise. Earlier this week, he shuttled between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for four days, but made no apparent progress. Israeli government officials had no immediate comment on Saturday. Mohammed Dahlan, a Fatah leader, said the Palestinians will now begin to prepare for the potential collapse of the talks. PLO and Fatah officials formed a joint committee to discuss the possibility of asking the UN Security Council to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War. The committee will also discuss ways of reconciling with the Islamic militant Hamas, Abbas' main rival, Dahlan said. Hamas wrested the Gaza Strip from Abbas in a 2007 takeover and has repeatedly urged him to quit negotiations. Hamas considers such talks pointless. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri welcomed the PLO statement and said there should be no talks with Israel. He said the continuation of settlement building demanded "an official announcement stopping negotiations with the Israeli occupation and taking practical steps to protect Palestinian lands and the Palestinians from the crimes of settlers and the Israeli occupation." Abbas says there's no point in negotiating while Israeli settlements keep taking over more of the lands the Palestinians want for a future independent state. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...