Palestinians say no talks until full settlement halt
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian leaders on Monday categorically ruled out holding any peace talks with Israel until a full and lasting freeze in Jewish settlement.
The remarks by President Mahmoud Abbas and one of his senior allies in his Fatah party may aim to step up pressure on U.S. President Barack Obama, who is pushing for negotiations to start in the face of Israeli opposition to a total halt to settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In what looked like an acknowledgment by the United States of problems in persuading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-leaning Israeli coalition to stop settlement completely, a U.S. official said last week that Washington would not insist on a total freeze if the Palestinians would accept something less.
[PM Netanyahu said “shucks” - realwest]