RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas should not hold direct talks with Israel because indirect negotiations had yielded nothing, his Fatah movement said on Thursday.
The movement’s statement came as US envoy George Mitchell was expected in the region on his latest visit to press Israel and the Palestinians to relaunch direct talks, suspended during the 2008-2009 Gaza war.
Since May, the two sides have been holding proximity talks through Mitchell but Abbas has said he will not move to direct negotiations unless there is progress on the contentious issue of borders and security.
"The lack of credibility and confidence resulting from the Israeli rejection of the indirect talks, which have achieved no progress, will become entrenched as ‘givens and facts’ if there is a transition to direct talks," Fatah said.
"That is something the Palestinian leadership has not and will not accept," the secular movement added.
Israel has repeatedly called for direct talks but many Palestinians doubt the hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is serious about withdrawing from the West Bank and east Jerusalem — Palestinian lands captured in 1967.
In a letter addressed to Mitchell, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat slammed recent decisions to expand Jewish settlements in mostly Arab east Jerusalem and other "illegal and provocative" Israeli policies.
He went on to accuse Israel of "flagrant violations" of past agreements going back to the 1990s.
Mitchell was to arrive in Israel on Thursday, and meet with Netanyahu and Abbas in the following days. As with previous visits, he has not publicly discussed his plans or details of his talks.
