WASHINGTON (Ma'an) -- As American-led efforts to push forward peace talks continue, officials made clear on Wednesday that continued support for the Palestinian Authority was on the agenda.
Meetings between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Middle East Quartet Envoy Tony Blair were used both as a platform for updates on the peace-talk push, but also to review "how to increase support for the Palestinian Authority and the ongoing institutional efforts."
With support to the PA decided, US State Department Spokesman Phillip Crowley said efforts were underway to ensure that the Arab League continued to support peace talks, despite expectations that the Arab Peace Initiative Follow-up committee would back a PLO decision from the week before to halt talks if settlement construction continued.
Commenting on whether or not Israel would extend or re-institute the freeze that expired on 26 September, stalling talks, he said both President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "feel that they have to be able to demonstrate to their people that there is value in making the difficult but necessary political decision to continue with these negotiations."
A report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted Israeli Labour party officials as saying they believed a settlement freeze could be in the works after the right wing in the country had been handed a citizenship loyalty oath law, which would force all residents of Israel to swear an oath to the state before they were granted citizenship. Detractors have called the law racist, with loyalty pledged to a Jewish State, and an excuse to further oppress a Palestinian minority.
In return, Labour sources told the paper, they expected a new freeze in settlement building and a re-launch of talks.
US officials said they remained "in touch with the Israelis," but updates from the State Department focused on talks with Arab world leaders, including a discussion between Clinton and Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, where the two reportedly spoke about the upcoming Arab League meeting and possible outcomes.
"We are in touch with countries that will be participating in the Arab League meeting on Friday," Crowley told reporters, adding that "Our message is clear: These are important negotiations; we’re at a critical state in the process; we want to see the negotiations continue; we don’t want to see the parties step away from this process."
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