NEW YORK: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he will not take part in US-backed peace talks "for a single day" if Israel does not extend a freeze on settlement building at the month’s end.
"The negotiations will continue as long as the settlement (construction) remains frozen, but I am not prepared to negotiate an agreement for a single day more," Abbas told AFP.
Abbas is to give a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York this week about "efforts to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land since 1967 to create an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
Israel and the Palestinians began long-awaited peace negotiations under US mediation on Sept. 2.
But so far Israel has stubbornly refused to extend the partial 10-month ban on new construction, and the Palestinians have vowed to pull out of the talks if building resumes.
The deadline for the end of Israel’s freeze on settlement construction is widely accepted as Sept. 26, exactly 10 months and a day after the original cabinet decision.
But the Israeli military order regarding the moratorium states it will only close at midnight on Sept. 30.
