'Nothing cooking' in Netanyahu-Abbas talks: Palestinians
AFP
JERUSALEM- Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have made no progress despite the direct involvement of their leaders, a Palestinian official said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a conference in east Jerusalem, senior Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said face-to-face talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had not been fruitful.
"The two are talking languages that are 180 degrees apart," Shaath said, responding to an earlier speaker who expressed hope the two "were cooking something."
Israel and the Palestinian leadership started new US-brokered direct talks on September 2, including rounds in the United States, Egypt and in Jerusalem.
But they have not met since September 15 and Palestinian leaders have said they will not negotiate because Israel refuses to extend a 10-month old moratorium on settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
On October 9, the Arab League gave the United States a month to try to bridge differences over Jewish settlements, one of the thorniest obstacles to peace in the Middle East.
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