Palestinians to meet on peace talks, reconciliation

Palestinian street vendor reads a newspaper in Gaza City A key Palestine Liberation Organisation body was set to hold Saturday talks after Israel pulled out of US-sponsored peace negotiations in response to a Palestinian reconciliation deal with Hamas. The meeting of the PLO's Central Council at its West Bank headquarters in Ramallah was to start at 0800 GMT with a brief speech by president Mahmud Abbas, and will continue on Sunday, when the Palestinian leader is scheduled to deliver a major address.
The council had called the meeting over the crisis in negotiations, but will also discuss the Wednesday unity deal with the Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza.
Israel suspended the peace talks over the deal, saying it would have no dealings with a Palestinian government backed by Hamas, which is pledged to the destruction of the Jewish state.
Israel and the United States had been hoping to extend the faltering peace talks beyond their April 29 deadline, but the efforts hit a wall last month when Israel refused to release a final batch of Palestinian prisoners.
The Palestinians retaliated by applying to adhere to 15 international treaties and then Abbas, who heads the PLO, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah, listed conditions for extending the talks beyond the April 29 deadline.
Abbas said he would agree to an extension if Israel freezes settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem, frees the prisoners and begins discussions on the future borders of a promised Palestinian state.
Israel dismissed the conditions.
In the unity deal penned this week, Hamas and the Fatah-led PLO agreed to establish a "national consensus" government under Abbas within weeks.
The reconciliation deal infuriated Israel, which said it would "not negotiate with a Palestinian government backed by Hamas, a terror organisation that calls for the destruction of Israel," and vowed unspecified "measures" in response.
Delegates from Hamas were invited to participate the weekend PLO meeting, but sources from the Islamist movement said they would not be attending.
On Friday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said US efforts to broker a peace deal had not failed, but were currently in a "holding period" as Palestinians and Israelis decide their next move.
She noted Abbas had insisted that any government formed with Hamas backing would "represent his policies, and that includes recognition of Israel, commitment to non-violence, adherence to prior agreements and commitment to peaceful negotiations toward a two-state solution."
Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah informed Abbas Friday he would resign if the president deemed it necessary for the formation of the new unity government, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Source: AFP