Abbas to meet Netanyahu in al-Quds

Acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his residence in al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, confirmed on Tuesday a report aired on Israel’s Channel 2 TV station earlier in the day, Ma’an news agency reported.

Speaking after the second round of direct PA-Israeli negotiations in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Abu Rudeineh described the talks as “serious” and wide-ranging.

The PA leader is scheduled to stop in the Jordanian capital of Amman on his way to the West Bank, the spokesperson added.

The Ramallah-based government has been taking part in face-to-face negotiations with Israeli leaders despite strong opposition from major Palestinian parties in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Critics argue that given Tel Aviv’s refusal to end its illegal settlement construction in the West Bank and East al-Quds, yielding to “US and Israeli pressure” on engaging in direct talks with Israel would only lead to further concessions on the part of the PA.

In Egypt, US special Mideast envoy George Mitchell said on Tuesday that Israel must commit to extending its 10-month moratorium on illegal settlement construction in the West Bank, a partial freeze agreement that is due to expire on September 26.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit also reiterated in a Tuesday press conference in Sinai that Palestinians and the international community see no point in continuing direct talks if central obstacles to the process remain.

“The settlements are in our view an obstacle,” Aboul Gheit said.

On September 2, the first round of direct negotiations was held in Washington upon an invitation by the US State Department. The highly publicized summit came 20 months after Tel Aviv’s devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip in December 2008 that killed over 1,400 Palestinians and led to a break-off of negotiations.