Ramallah:
The Palestinian leadership has said there would be no further peace talks with Israel as long as it continued settlement construction in the occupied territories.
The decision by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) strengthened president Mahmud Abbas, who has threatened to walk out of US-backed talks relaunched a month ago over the recent resumption of building in the West Bank.
However, Abbas has said he would not make a final decision on the talks until after meeting Arab foreign ministers in Libya on Friday, giving US mediators another few days to try to strike a compromise.
"The resumption of negotiations requires tangible steps from Israel and the international community beginning with a halt of settlement activity," the PLO said in a statement yesterday.
"We have alternatives (to the negotiations) which we will announce soon," it said after holding a special meeting attended by Abbas and members of his Fatah movement's Central Committee. It did not provide further details.
"The Palestinian leadership holds the Israeli government responsible for foiling the international efforts and the peace process in the region because it is determined to combine negotiations with settlements," it added.
The PLO, a Fatah-dominated umbrella group headed by Abbas that includes most Palestinian factions but not the militant Hamas, is the Palestinians' sole international representative.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted by urging Abbas "to continue the peace talks without a break with the aim of reaching a historic accord in a year," a statement from his office said.
"For 17 years the Palestinians negotiated while construction continued" in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, he added, and expressed the hope "that they will not now turn their backs on peace."
Fatah, meanwhile, appeared to have adopted an even harder line on the negotiations, with one member of the Central Committee suggesting the international community reconsider Israel's existence.
"The ball is now in the court of the international community to stop the unilateral aggression on Palestinian lands on which a Palestinian state must be established," Jibril Rajub told reporters.
"If the world cannot do that, then it should re-examine the legitimacy of the continued existence of the state of Israel, which was established with an international birth certificate."
The decision by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) strengthened president Mahmud Abbas, who has threatened to walk out of US-backed talks relaunched a month ago over the recent resumption of building in the West Bank.
However, Abbas has said he would not make a final decision on the talks until after meeting Arab foreign ministers in Libya on Friday, giving US mediators another few days to try to strike a compromise.
"The resumption of negotiations requires tangible steps from Israel and the international community beginning with a halt of settlement activity," the PLO said in a statement yesterday.
"We have alternatives (to the negotiations) which we will announce soon," it said after holding a special meeting attended by Abbas and members of his Fatah movement's Central Committee. It did not provide further details.
"The Palestinian leadership holds the Israeli government responsible for foiling the international efforts and the peace process in the region because it is determined to combine negotiations with settlements," it added.
The PLO, a Fatah-dominated umbrella group headed by Abbas that includes most Palestinian factions but not the militant Hamas, is the Palestinians' sole international representative.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted by urging Abbas "to continue the peace talks without a break with the aim of reaching a historic accord in a year," a statement from his office said.
"For 17 years the Palestinians negotiated while construction continued" in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, he added, and expressed the hope "that they will not now turn their backs on peace."
Fatah, meanwhile, appeared to have adopted an even harder line on the negotiations, with one member of the Central Committee suggesting the international community reconsider Israel's existence.
"The ball is now in the court of the international community to stop the unilateral aggression on Palestinian lands on which a Palestinian state must be established," Jibril Rajub told reporters.
"If the world cannot do that, then it should re-examine the legitimacy of the continued existence of the state of Israel, which was established with an international birth certificate."
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