Ma'an News Agency
October 21, 2009 - 12:00am
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=233907


The US is obligated to expose Israel for blocking the resumption of peace negotiations, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Tuesday.

"When we say that we want to resume permanent status negotiations on all core issues without exceptions, that's also an Israeli obligation," Erekat told reporters outside the State Department in Washington, DC, according to AFP.

Erekat was speaking after meeting with US President Barack Obama’s Middle East peace envoy, George Mitchell.

"So now the Israeli side is trying to project as if they want to negotiate, then we say 'no,'" he was quoted as saying.

"And I believe the Americans and other members of the quartet have a responsibility to tell the international community about the side that's implementing its commitments and complying with its commitments and the side that's refusing to comply with its commitments," Erakat also said, according to AFP.

Two Israeli envoys are also in Washington this week for separate talks with Mitchell.

Peace talks were suspended last December when Israel launched a war on the Gaza Strip, ultimately killing more than 1,400 Palestinians.

Obama has sought to restart negotiations but has failed so far, in part because Israel refuses to comply with international calls for a halt on the construction of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.




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