English.news.cn 2010-09-25 10:13
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NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas here on Friday evening, just two days before the Sunday expiry of a 10-month freeze on Israel's new settlement construction in the occupied territory.
The meeting, held on the sidelines of the general debate of the UN General Assembly, took place after Clinton met Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday, part of Clinton's several discussions with other Middle East leaders while they are at the UN Headquarters in New York to attend the summit on the UN anti-poverty goals, which started on Monday, and the annual general debate, which opened here on Thursday morning.
Clinton is engaged in "a pretty intense set of negotiations" right now with both Palestinians and Israelis, a senior U.S. official said here.
Abbas, who reported "nothing new" from his Friday meeting with Clinton, said he will have another round of talks with her on Saturday.
The United States relaunched the direct peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis early this month in Washington in a bid to solve all outstanding issues within one year. However, the immediate threat of the peace efforts is that the current settlement restrictions expire on Sept. 26.
The Israelis said that they will let the restrictions expire while Palestinians vowed to drop out of the peace talks if Israelis resume the settlement construction.
The settlements are illegal under international law, but Israel disputes this and has pressed ahead with its activity despite signing various agreements to curb settlement growth.
Nowadays, more than 430,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Settlements have separate civil infrastructure to surrounding Palestinian areas and are protected by a vast military infrastructure, reports said.
"A total freeze must be maintained on settlement activity in the Palestinian territories, including in Jerusalem," Abbas said. "We reject any partial solution."
On Tuesday, the Middle East Quartet urged the Israeli government to continue its freeze of settlement construction on the Palestinian territory.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened a meeting of the Quartet, which groups the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States, on the sidelines of the UN high-level meeting on the anti-poverty goals at the UN Headquarters in New York.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the Quartet "noted that the commendable Israeli settlement moratorium instituted last November has had a positive impact and urged its continuation."
"The Quartet recalled that unilateral actions by either party including settlement activity, cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community," the statement said. (english.xinhuanet.com)
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