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French president says settlements hampering peace efforts, Netanyahu promised to limit construction; Abbas says no decision will be made before Arab League meeting, Hamas leader Mashaal calls on
Abbas to quit talks.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that he regrets that Israel did not extend the settlement construction freeze, at a joint press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris on Monday.
Sarkozy said that Netanyahu had promised him to limit the construction in Judea and Samaria. Both Abbas and Sarkozy said that the settlement freeze is imperative to core-issues negotiations and that settlement activity must cease.
Abbas urged the Israeli government to extend the slowdown of settlement construction for three or four months to allow for a discussion of "fundamental issues" and said that no "quick decision" would be made on whether he would leave talks. He said he would weigh his options with Palestinian leaders before discussing the matter with the 22-member Arab League next Monday.
"We will not have any quick reactions," he said. "After this chain of meetings, we might publish a position that clears up the position of the Palestinian and Arab people after Israel has refused to freeze settlements."
The French president said he would telephone Netanyahu later Monday evening and will invite him and Abbas for a meeting in October.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Monday called on Abbas to quit peace negotiations since construction in Judea and Samaria has resumed, AFP reported.
"I call on my brothers at the Palestinian Authority, who had stated they would not pursue talks with the enemy (Israel) if it continued settlement construction, to hold to their promise," Mashaal said at a meeting in Syria.
"To negotiate without a position of strength is absurd," he said.
"Netanyahu is not the man who can make peace in the region," Mashaal declared. (the jerusalem post)
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