West Bank: ‘Nothing New’ Offered by Israelis in Talks, Abbas Says

Israel has made no new proposals in meetings with Palestinians about the possibility of resuming formal peace talks, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said Thursday. The sides have met twice in Jordan, and plan two more meetings. Mr. Abbas has said he will not resume negotiations unless Israel freezes settlement construction in the West Bank, a demand Israel rejects. He said Thursday that the low-level exploratory talks had not broken that impasse. “There is nothing new in the dialogue that is going on in Amman,” he said, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. “We are not authorized to speak about what is going on in Amman, but our demands are known, and the Israelis didn’t present something we can accept.”