The Palestinian Authority called off a round of talks with Israel after its negotiators were held up at a West Bank roadblock.
P.A. negotiators led by former Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia were scheduled to meet their Israeli counterparts in Jerusalem on Sunday as part of efforts to reach agreement on the format of the U.S.-hosted conference expected late this month in Annapolis, Md.
But the Palestinians called off the meeting after saying they were held up by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint en route from the West Bank city of Ramallah to Jerusalem. Qureia called for future preparatory talks to be moved to a third country.
Israel had no immediate comment on the checkpoint incident.
There already had been friction between the two sets of negotiators after the Palestinians complained that Israel was not complying with a U.S.-proposed framework for overseeing future implementation of the peace “road map.” Israeli officials rejected that charge.
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