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    September 24, 2011

Palestinian Official Critical of Call for Talks With Israel

   VOA News
   A general view of a construction site in the West Bank Jewish
   settlement of Modiin Illit, March 14, 2011.
   Photo: AP
   A general view of a construction site in the West Bank Jewish
   settlement of Modiin Illit, March 14, 2011.

   The Palestinian foreign minister says a new initiative calling for the
   resumption of peace talks with Israel is insufficient because it does
   not include a call for an Israeli settlement construction freeze.
   Raid al-Malki criticized the plan from the [1]Middle East Quartet on
   Saturday, a day after Palestinians formally launched a bid for United
   Nations statehood recognition. He also said the Quartet's initiative is
   incomplete because it does not call for an Israeli withdrawal to the
   borders that were in place before Israel took control of Palestinian
   territories in 1967.
   The Quartet, which is made up of the U.S., U.N., EU and Russia, has
   called on Israel and the Palestinians to resume talks within a month
   and reach an agreement by next year.
   The Quartet's push came Friday as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas
   asked the U.N. to recognize a state of Palestine, despite U.S. and
   Israeli opposition.
   Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, [2]Abbas called Israel "the
   occupying power" and said its control of Palestinian territories in the
   occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is a policy of "colonial
   settlement occupation."
   In a later speech, [3]Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
   proposed that peace talks begin immediately and reaffirmed Israeli's
   stance that peace cannot come through U.N. resolutions.
   Israel has opposed the Palestinian statehood move, saying it does not
   advance the peace process.
   Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council is set to discuss the
   Palestinians' statehood application on Monday.

   Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
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References

   1. http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/middle_east/quartet-23sep2011.htm
   2. http://gadebate.un.org/sites/default/files/gastatements/66/PS_en.pdf
   3. http://gadebate.un.org/sites/default/files/gastatements/66/IL_en.pdf
   4. http://twitter.com/VOAMidEast
   5. http://www.facebook.com/pages/VOAMiddleEastVoices/124360240958667?%20%20%20%20v=wall

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