CAIRO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that US President George W. Bush must speak out against Israeli settlements during his visit to the region next week, because they were making peace talks impossible.
“When he arrives in the region President Bush must speak clearly about eliminating all obstacles which are hindering negotiations and settlement activity is the main obstacle, Abbas said.
“It is impossible for negotiations to continue as long as settlements continue, he said after talks with President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.
Bush is due to begin a regional tour, his first as president, on Jan. 9.
The issue of settlements has been the main issue of discord since Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert revived peace talks at a US conference in late November after a near seven-year hiatus.
Since then, Israel has announced two expansions of settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem – moves slammed by Palestinians and criticized by Israel’s main ally Washington.
Abbas also said he hoped that reason would prevail over Hamas after the Islamists rejected his call for dialogue aimed at halting the factional struggle that has torn the territories apart.
On Monday, he said he was willing to enter into a dialogue with Hamas but only if it first returned the beleaguered coastal strip to his control, a condition Hamas has repeatedly rejected.
“The initial reaction from Hamas was not encouraging, but we hope that reason will prevail to allow a positive response, Abbas said after Hamas rejected that call.
Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since June, when it drove out security forces loyal to Abbas in a week of deadly clashes.
Later Tuesday, Abbas renewed his calls for talks with Hamas following a meeting in Amman with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, the royal palace said.
“We don’t have any conditions to start a dialogue with Hamas, but we hope that they would get the message and end their coup, Abbas was quoted as saying.
“Our calls for talks were sincere and the current Palestinian situation must come to an end and dialogue must prevail.
Meanwhile, a radical Israeli rabbi said Wednesday night Olmert should be hanged for considering any territorial concessions to the Palestinians, whom he called Nazis.
“This traitor, Ehud Olmert, collaborates with the Nazis, and if we were a state of law, he ought to be hanged along with [Deputy Prime Minister] Haim Ramon, [Foreign Minister] Tzipi Livni and [Defence Minister] Ehud Barak, Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe was quoted by public television as saying.
The rabbi, president of a group that fiercely opposes any territorial concessions, was speaking to a gathering of ultra-nationalist rabbis in Tel Aviv. -AFP
