Arab League Backs Abbas Decision to End Talks
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The Arab League backed the decision of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to resume direct peace talks with Israel without a full freeze on Jewish settlement building, but left the door open for Washington to continue efforts to broker a deal, according to Palestinian officials.
The decision came after a meeting Friday evening in Libya of Arab foreign ministers serving on a committee that has become a key source of support for the Palestinian leadership.
"The Arabs have supported our stand that there should be a full cessation of settlement activity before going on with negotiations," said Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Mr. Abbas, by telephone from Libya. "The Arab committee will convene again within one month in order to consider some ideas and alternatives which my president offered." He said he couldn't yet publicly discuss what those ideas are.
The Arab League's decision had been widely anticipated as a crucial vote on the fate of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The White House lobbied Arab leaders hard in the days leading up to the meeting to keep open prospects for continuing talks.
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