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Hamas urges Abbas to declare failure
Hamas urged Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend to officially declare the failure of peace talks with Israel and to resume negotiations with the movement and other Palestinian factions. The appeal came in response to Abbas's announcement that he had failed to make progress in his talks with US President George W. Bush last week. Abbas is scheduled to brief Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the outcome of his visit to Washington during a meeting between the two in Sharm a-Sheikh Sunday. The two will also discuss Egypt's efforts to achieve a truce between Israel and Hamas PA officials in Ramallah warned that the failure of the peace talks with Israel would "strengthen" Hamas and other extremist groups in the Middle East. The officials told The Jerusalem Post that Abbas was "very disappointed" with the results of his talks in Washington last week. "The Americans don't want to make a commitment about the borders of the Palestinian state," said one official. "Nor do they want to put pressure on Israel to stop settlement expansion and remove checkpoints [in the West Bank]." Another official told the Post that in the wake of the US position "it's ridiculous to talk about an agreement between the Palestinians and Israel before the end of Bush's term in office." He added that Bush's failure to exert pressure on Israel was likely to undermine the PA. Posted by: Fred 2008-04-27 |
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