Palestinians pull out of proximity talks with Israel
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas calls off indirect talks with Israel after latest settlement expansion
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Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has called off indirect talks with Israel after the Jewish state's interior ministry announced the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in East Jerusalem.
The coalition system of government employed in Israel means the interior ministry is controlled by the ultra-Orthodox nationalist Shas party, which this week drew condemnation for announcing the new building projects.
The news came during a visit to Israel by US vice president Joe Biden, with Israeli interior minister Eli Yishai telling national radio: "We had no intention, no desire, to offend or taunt an important man like the vice president during his visit."
But the immediate repercussion was for Mr Abbas to pull out of indirect, or proximity, talks with Israel. He told Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa of the development last night.
"The Palestinian president decided he will not enter into those negotiations now... the Palestinian side is not ready to negotiate under the present circumstances," Mr Moussa relayed to journalists in Cairo, Egypt, last night.
"The talks have already stopped."
As Mr Biden arrived on Monday Israel said it had approved the construction of 112 new apartments in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit, with the United Nations secretary general saying in a statement that the settlements were illegal.
Later on Tuesday the interior ministry said it would be building 1,600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish settlement in an area of the West Bank annexed by Israel.
About half a million Jews, including the Israeli foreign minister, live in 100 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, all of which are considered illegal under international law.
The peace process has been stalled for almost 18 months, but recently the Palestinians agreed to "proximity" talks with Israel, suspending a demand Israel freeze settlement-building immediately.
Speaking after talks with Mr Abbas, Mr Biden repeated his strong criticism of the Israeli move.
"The Palestinians and the Israelis had just agreed to begin proximity talks, hopefully leading to an agreement, a final agreement," he said.
"This is a time when we should be building trust because I am absolutely convinced there's a desire on the part of the parties to move forward. They know the status quo is helpful to neither of them.
"Everyone knows the Palestinians deserve an independent state, the Israelis deserve an independent and secure state and for those kinds of actions to occur when there's more agreement than disagreement is just destabilising."