Admin #MR Israel-PA talks have no future: PA chief Mahmoud Abbas Acting Palestinian Authority (PA) chief Mahmoud Abbas says the prospects of a peace deal between the PA and Israel have never been such bleak as they are now. Abbas made the remarks in his speech to the 68th United Nations General Assembly on Thursday. “Time is running out, and the window of peace is narrowing and the opportunities are diminishing,” he said. Abbas demanded that any peace deal with Israel be permanent, saying the latest round of US-brokered talks “appears to be a last chance to realize a just peace.” He also renewed his call to the international community to pressure Israel to stop its illegal settlement activities on the Palestinian land. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to intensify talks between Tel-Aviv and the PA. The fresh round of negotiations began in July to end the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the so-called two-state solution after a three-year hiatus. Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds (Jerusalem), and the Gaza Strip and are demanding Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories. Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds. Even days before the start of the talks Israel announced plans for more than 2,000 new settler units in East al-Quds and the West Bank, which angered Palestinians.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 07:31:41 +0000