The Palestinian authorities rule out resumption of peace talks with Israel until it gives up on building settlements on the occupied territories. Statements to that effect were made by the PLO's Executive Committee Secretary Yasser Abd Rabbo and the Palestinian administration's press secretary Nabil Abu Rudeina.
Apparently, Palestinians fear that by building settlements Israel is striving to forestall the outcome of the talks and put its opponents before a fait accompli. A week ago, under pressure from the Arab countries and the US, Palestinians agreed to start mediated talks with Israel but thought better of it after the Israelis had given a green light to the construction of 1.6 thousand homes in East Jerusalem.
Irina Zviagelskaya, an expert with the Institute of Oriental Studies, describes the Palestinian reaction as appropriate:
"The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on the point of giving his consent to freeze all settlement building activities when all of a sudden he backed further settlements, and at a time when US Vice-President Joe Biden was on a visit to Israel. Naturally, this can only be described as a challenge by the Palestinians, the United States and the other members of the Quartet".
The US attempts to reason with Israel, its strategic ally, fell through. The government of Benjamin Netanyahu is set on going ahead with the construction in both Jerusalem and the West Bank. The prime minister dispelled any doubts on this account as he addressed a session of the Likud Party on Monday.
At present, most pin hopes on a Quartet meeting in Moscow. Whether representatives of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations will succeed in offering a solution remains to be seen. Irina Zviagelskaya tends to regard the situation with caution:
"Theoretically, the parties involved may strike a compromise and the Netanyahu government will be forced to stop building settlements. But the talks should produce tangible results, there should not be talk for talks' sake. Unfortunately, the parties involved will have to face a backlog of problems and nobody knows how to solve them".
But the conflict cannot stay in limbo for too long. This is dangerous and fraught with unpredictable consequences. That's something politicians in Israel should know only too well.
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