Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have met for another round of talks aimed at breaking the stalemated peace process.
The Palestinian Cabinet issued a statement before the talks began, calling them a “total waste of time.”
A leading Palestinian Authority official, Nabil Sha’ath, said the Palestinians would suspend the talks if no progress was made in the coming days.
Sha’ath was joined by other Palestinian officials in saying that Monday’s talks — involving an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yitzhak Molcho, and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat — had better prove decisive.
Netanyahu criticized what he called the Palestinian “ultimatums.” He told a news conference Monday, “I think the Palestinians would be ill advised to create artificial crises.”
“The negotiations are progressing with the good will of Israel, and, I want to believe, also of the Palestinians,” he said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department called on Israel and the Palestinians to put “specific proposals” on the negotiating table in order to reach an agreement on a further Israeli redeployment from the West Bank.
Contradicting top U.S. officials who said last week that the peace process was nearing collapse, State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters, “We do believe the parties are moving closer to an agreement.”
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