Abbas accuses Iran of trying to derail talks in Middle East

PRESIDENT MAHMOUD Abbas yesterday accused Iran of encouraging Muslim militants to try to sabotage Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, stalled over the issue of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.

He said that the US, Arab officials and representatives of the EU, UN and Russia were trying to secure a halt to Israeli settlement building. He indicated that he might step down if Israel continued to pursue its policies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton plans to meet Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Washington next week. “We are working on a non-stop basis with our Israeli and Palestinian friends to design a way forward,” she said. She added that the sides were committed to a two-state solution.

Although he charged Tehran with unwelcome interference, Mr Abbas has not adopted a consistent policy toward Hamas, said to be a recipient of Iranian aid. While his security forces frequently detain Hamas activists, his Fatah party will be holding a new round of reconciliation talks with Hamas in Damascus on November 9th.

The major points of difference between Fatah, which administers West Bank Palestinian enclaves, and Hamas, which rules Gaza, are merging the rivals’ security forces and reaching a common policy on how to forge peace with Israel.

Mr Abbas, who has renounced violent resistance, insists peace can only be achieved through negotiations.

But Hamas, which is observing a ceasefire at present, argues that Palestinians must not give up the armed struggle until their objectives are achieved. Both factions have accepted a Palestinian state based on the ceasefire lines of 1967.

During meetings with Kuwaiti leaders in the course of his Gulf tour, Mr Abbas reportedly declared that “the aggressive policies and unilateral moves of the Israeli occupation authorities put in peril the prospects of success of the US-conceived road map” providing for the emergence of a Palestinian state.

“If we achieve nothing from these talks, we will search for other solutions with the support of the United States and the [UN] Security Council.”

He reiterated his refusal to return to talks, relaunched on September 2nd after an eightmonth hiatus, unless Israel renews its partial curbs on settlement building.

A poll released on Wednesday revealed that 58 per cent of Palestinians in the occupied territories opposed a return to talks while Israel continued settlement construction in the West Bank, while 56.2 per cent wanted Fatah and Hamas to reconcile and reunite.

Nearly half believed the Republican victory in the US midterm elections would make it more difficult for US president Barack Obama to secure progress in the peace process.