Ramallah, July 11 (IANS) A Palestinian official Sunday said proximity talks with Israel have made no progress, but denied reports that the indirect negotiations have stopped.
‘We don’t know that they have stopped,’ said Yasser Abed Rabbo, an official from the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
He said George Mitchell, the US envoy who leads the talks, ‘is coming to us next week’, Xinhua reported.
A London-based pan-Arab newspaper reported Sunday that Mitchell had stopped the proximity talks two months after they started and is pressuring the two sides to shift to face-to-face negotiations.
‘Even if they stopped, they have achieved nothing, keep it going or halting it is no longer important,’ Rabbo said.
The Arab League in May approved a US offer to launch indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to revive the peace process that had stalled since Israel launched a three-week offensive in Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009.
The Palestinians said they would go for four months in the talks, hoping to reach an agreement on border and security issues.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday moving to direct talks without making a progress in the proximity talks will be ‘absurd and useless’.
