PA Negotiators Resign, Israel Puts New Housing on Hold

Palestinian Autority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday his negotiators had resigned over the lack of progress in the peace talks.

In an interview with Egyptian news media, Abbas suggested the negotiations would continue even if the Palestinian peace delegation stuck to its decision.

“Either we can convince it to return, and we’re trying with them, or we form a new delegation,” he said.

It was unclear from Abbas’s interview when the Palestinian negotiators had quit, but Abbas said he would need about a week to resume the talks.

In a statement to Reuters on Wednesday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat did not elaborate on the report of his resignation, but said the sessions with Israel were frozen.

“In reality, the negotiations stopped last week in light of the settlement announcements last week,” he said.

The disclosure that Israel’s Housing Ministry had commissioned plans for nearly 24,000 more homes for Israelis in the E1 area and Yehudah and Shomron elicited U.S. and Palestinian condemnations.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu intervened late Tuesday, ordering a halt to the projects and saying he had no prior knowledge of them. Initially, only the E1 area near Yerushalayim was mentioned in the Prime Minister’s order; but by Wednesday plans for all 24,000 units were on hold.

Netanyahu said he feared such construction activity could trigger an international outcry that would divert attention from Israel’s lobbying against a deal between world powers and Iran that would ease economic sanctions on Tehran without dismantling its nuclear-enrichment capabilities.

However, Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, a senior member of the Likud party, made clear on Wednesday that Israel would continue building, while being more careful in the future about announcing it.

“The question is always about the timing. Is the timing right? Is the timing wrong?” Shalom told Israel Radio. “We need the support of the United States on the Iranian issue and have to do our utmost to lower any tensions with it.”

This article appeared in print on page 6 of the November 14th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.