SIRTE, Libya, Oct 9, 2010 (AFP) - The United States pledged to keep working to move the peace process forward late Friday after Arab League ministers gave Washington a month to save direct Middle East peace talks.
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| Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa (L) and Libyan Foreign Minister Mussa Kussa (R) attend a meeting with Arab and African foreign ministers in preparation for the Arab-African Leaders summit in the eastern Libyan coastal city of Sirte on October 8, 2010. (AFP) |
The ministers, meeting in Sirte, Libya, made it clear in a statement issued Friday that the Israeli-Palestinian talks would collapse if Israel did not halt its settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
The Arab League Follow-up Committee said in a statement it would meet “in a month to review the alternatives proposed by (Palestinian president Mahmud) Abbas to determine the necessary steps to be taken on this.” The committee on the Middle East peace process, which groups 13 Arab foreign ministers, also urged Washington to pursue efforts in the interim to stop Israeli settlement activity.
It added that it “supports the position of the Palestinian president calling for a total cessation of (Israeli) settlement to allow the resumption of direct negotiations.”Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said the statement “offers huge support for the position of president Abbas.
“The committee will convene again in a month to study the alternatives, which gives the US administration a chance between now and then to try to find a solution to the settlements issue,” Abu Rudeina said.
Washington appreciated the Arab League's statement of support for its efforts, US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in a written statement. |
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