RAMALLAH: Israel must choose between "settlements or peace" Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said on Monday ahead or the September 2 restart of negotiations in Washington.
"The choice of the Israeli government is settlement or peace, they cannot have both," he said at a news conference in Ramallah, the political capital of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
But he also said he believed agreement could be reached within one year.
"We think it is doable."
Both sides agreed to relaunch direct negotiations after a 20-month hiatus, even though the Palestinians had initially insisted they would not hold face-to-face talks unless the Israelis freeze settlement activity in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
But Erakat made it clear on Monday that settlements remain a major issue, and that it now remains to be seen whether Israel will renew a partial, 10 month moratorium on settlement construction it imposed in November last year.
"If Mr Netanyahu decides to renew settlement tenders come September 26, he will have decided to stop negotiations," he said.
A similar relaunch of negotiations amid much fanfare at Annapolis in Maryland in November 2007 had produced no visible results by the time the talks collapsed when Israel launched its devastating military 22-day offensive on the Gaza Strip just over a year later.
