Abbas gives Israel ultimatum:

Settlements or peace

UN: The United States launched a frantic bid Saturday to avert the collapse of Middle East talks, but Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said Israel had to choose between settlements and peace.

Abbas, who has threatened to quit US-organized negotiations unless Israel extends a moratorium on housing for settlers in the occupied territories, condemned “the mentality of expansion and domination” that he said controls Israel’s policies.

The Palestinian leader met US Middle East envoy George Mitchell at a New York hotel before talks with other Arab leaders, a Palestinian source said.

The US administration also remained in touch with Israeli leaders, according to State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.

“We are doing everything we can to keep the parties in direct talks,” Crowley said in a Twitter message.

Abbas met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday night and in Washington, US President Barack Obama kept his schedule largely free so he could take calls, officials said.

Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Yitzhak Molcho, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s point man on the peace talks, were also in New York to aid compromise efforts, Israeli radio reported.

Israel’s freeze on building new settlements in the West Bank expires at midnight on Sunday. The Israeli government has rejected strong international calls to completely halt settlement construction.

A senior Israeli official said Friday that “there cannot be zero construction” in the West Bank. The official said Israel was willing to cut a compromise deal.

But Abbas rejected any compromise that does not guarantee a “complete halt” to settlement activity including in Jerusalem, a top aide, Nabil Abu Rudeina, told AFP.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly, the Palestinian leader praised Obama’s efforts to bring Israelis and Palestinians together and declared his “complete readiness to cooperate with the American efforts for the success of the political process.” Abbas added that Palestinians still want peace and declared: “Our wounded hands are still able to carry the olive branch from the rubble of the trees that the occupation uproots every day.”

Sunday, AFP