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Abbas: No Peace Talks Without Settlement Freeze

   Remarks  by  Palestinian  President Mahmoud Abbas come just days after
   Secretary  of  State  Hillary  Clinton  called for Israeli-Palestinian
   peace talks to resume without preconditions.

   VOA News 12 January 2010
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Photo: AP

   Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (file)

   Palestinian  President  Mahmoud  Abbas  says  he will not resume peace
   negotiations   with   Israel   until   it  freezes  Jewish  settlement
   construction.
   Mr.  Abbas  told  reporters  in  Ramallah  on Tuesday that Israel must
   completely  halt  settlement activity, especially in Jerusalem, in his
   words, "for a certain period."  He did not give a specific timetable.
   The  comments  come  just  days  after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
   Clinton  called  for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to resume without
   preconditions.
   Following  U.S.  pressure,  Israeli  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
   ordered  a  10-month  moratorium on new settlement construction in the
   West  Bank last November.  The temporary freeze does not apply to East
   Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as a capital of a future state.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

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