Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas revealed that he has got a U.S. pledge to stop "any provocative activities" by Israel as part of Washington's efforts to resume Middle East peace talks.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Amman on Wednesday, Abbas, 74, said Washington made the pledge during a recent visit of U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell to the region.
Once "the credibility of the U.S. pledges are demonstrated," the negotiations, stalled since December 2008, "would restart immediately," he said.
Abbas accused Israel of thwarting the negotiations aimed at establishing a Palestinian statehood by building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem which the Palestinians want as their future capital.
"The only demand of the Palestinian side is that Israel must implement the Road Map peace plan," Abbas said, referring to a U.S. -backed plan that envisions a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel and calls for an immediate suspension of Israeli settlement activities in the area.
He stressed that the call for abiding by the Road Map "was not a precondition."
The Palestinian president said he believed U.S. President Barack Obama is interested in making peace, but he criticized Washington for "not exerting enough efforts to press Israel to achieve peace."
Abbas called on Obama to match words with deeds.
Meanwhile, Abbas warned of a potential danger threatening the two-state solution.
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