Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas warned that peace talks with Israel would be cut short if the Jewish state resumes settlement activities, according to a letter to the EU seen by AFP Monday. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted on Friday a call from a quartet of world powers, including the EU, to revive direct talks in Washington on September 2 following a 20-month hiatus.
"My strongest hope remains to resume meaningful negotiations with Israel to end the conflict," Abbas wrote to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in a letter dated August 21.
"However, I fear that on-going settlement activity, especially in East Jerusalem, along with other Israeli violations of international law and the Road Map will further undermine the credibility of negotiations in the eyes of my people," he said. The international community has pressed Israel to halt settlement activity while Netanyahu is under pressure at home to allow construction to resume.
The Palestinians view east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and the city's status has been one of the most intractable issues at the heart of more than a decade of on-again off-again peace talks. In November the Israeli prime minister imposed a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction but he has indicated this would end on September 26.
In his letter to Ashton, Abbas said he had warned US Middle East envoy George Mitchell that the talks could be scuttled by a resumption of settlement activities. "You are aware of the high sensitivity to us of any settlement construction in occupied East Jerusalem, home demolitions, evictions, land confiscations and ID revocations," he wrote. "Such actions undertaken during negotiations will only undermine all prospects of success.
"It should be noted that I have stated to Senator Mitchell that if Israel resumes settlement activities, including in East Jerusalem, we cannot continue with negotiations." Darren Ennis, a spokesman for Ashton, said the EU was drafting a response to the Palestinian leader's letter.