Abbas says Mideast peace will not come ‘at any price’

MIDEAST: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Sunday he would not accept a peace deal at any price a day before he was to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the first time since February.

“We are negotiating seriously and we are striving to arrive at a solution for all the final status issues, but it will not come at any price,” Abbas told a meeting of local officials in the West Bank political capital of Ramallah.

Abbas and Olmert were set to meet on Monday at the premier’s residence in Jerusalem for the first time since February in a bid to bolster recently revived peace talks, officials said.

The Palestinians cut contacts with Israel at the beginning of March after an Israeli military operation in Gaza killed more than 130 Palestinians, but US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice convinced him to restore them days later.

Since then negotiating teams, including senior officials from both sides, have met on several occasions but the two leaders have not had face-to-face talks since February 19.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the two men would discuss a mutual ceasefire, the lifting of the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip and the implementation of the 2003 Middle East roadmap agreement.

The latest peace talks have made little progress since they were launched at a US conference in November, with each side accusing the other of neglecting its obligations under the internationally drafted peace blueprint.

Israel “has not implemented a single one of its obligations as specified in the roadmap. It has not halted the (growth of) settlements or freed prisoners or removed checkpoints,” Erakat told AFP.

An Israeli official told AFP that Olmert “is looking forward to the renewal of talks.”

“We want the Annapolis process to succeed and the meetings between the leaders will continue focusing on the crucial elements of the peace talks,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Ramallah, Monday, AFP