Xinhua
February 18, 2011 - 1:00am
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-02/18/c_13737225.htm


The Palestinian leadership will meet Friday in the West Bank to discuss new U.S. ideas aimed at reviving peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, sources said Thursday.

President Mahmoud Abbas asked the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization and the Central Committee of his Fatah movement for an urgent meeting to discuss the ideas, the sources said.

The sources said they do not have details about the new ideas, while Palestinian officials contacted by Xinhua refused to comment.

The sources leaked the information hours after U.S. President Barack Obama talked with Abbas over the phone for nearly one hour.

Opposing an Arab draft resolution to condemn Jewish settlement, the Obama administration is trying to reach a compromise ahead of the United Nations Security Council's vote on the resolution, scheduled for Friday.

On Thursday, Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister, Riad Al- Maliki, said that Washington "would isolate itself" if it used the veto against the draft resolution.

"It would mean that America is against implementing international law when it comes to Israeli violations in the occupied Palestinian land," Al-Maliki told Voice of Palestine Radio.

In September, Israel ended a 10-month partial moratorium on construction in the West Bank settlements. As a result, the Palestinians walked out of U.S.-brokered peace talks, which started in the same month.




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