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Arab League Meets to Discuss Mideast Peace Process

   VOA News 29 July 2010
   Head  of Hamas political bureau, Khaled Mashaal, right, meets with the
   Arab League chief, Amr Moussa, left, in Damascus, Syria

Photo: AP

   Head  of Hamas political bureau, Khaled Mashaal, right, meets with the
   Arab  League  chief, Amr Moussa, left, in Damascus, Syria. Moussa, who
   also  met  with  Syrian  President Bashar Assad, urged Palestinians to
   immediately end their internal divisions, 15 Jul 2010.

   Arab  League foreign ministers are meeting in Cairo Thursday for talks
   with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on whether he will advance to
   direct talks with the Israelis.
   A  U.S.  envoy  has  been shuttling between the two parties since May,
   trying to get both sides to agree to speak with each other directly in
   peace talks.
   President Abbas has refused to enter direct negotiations unless Israel
   puts  an end to settlement construction in occupied territory. He also
   wants  Israel to recognize the Palestinian borders that existed before
   the 1967 Six-Day War in the Middle East.
   Israeli  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated he is willing
   to meet with President Abbas.  But he has also signaled that a freeze
   on  settlement  construction,  slated to end in September, will not be
   extended.

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

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