CAIRO: Egypt backed the Palestinians' refusal to negotiate with Israel as long as it continues to build West Bank settlements, even as officials urged Sunday for continued diplomacy to salvage the month-old talks. Washington's Mideast envoy George Mitchell met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the impasse ahead of an Arab League meeting this week at which the Palestinians are expected to deliver a final decision on whether to continue with talks following Israel's decision a week ago to allow a curb on settlement building to expire. The Palestinians want peace talks with Israel to continue, Mitchell said in Cairo Sunday, a day after the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) urged President Mahmoud Abbas to quit the negotiations. “Despite their differences, both the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority have asked us to continue these discussions in an effort to establish the conditions under which they can continue direct negotiations,” Mitchell told reporters after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. “They both want to continue these negotiations, they do not want to stop the talks,” he added. Mitchell then traveled to Jordan where he is expected to meet with King Abdullah II. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says there is no point negotiating as long as settlements are eating up the land the Palestinians want for a future state. Following Mitchell's meeting with Mubarak, Egypt's foreign minister said the Palestinian position is understandable. “We understand the Palestinian position which calls for setting the appropriate environment and circumstances for negotiations to take place and continue,” Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said. “The current conditions are not favorable.” Aboul Gheit said the focus now should be on continued US and international efforts to pressure Israel into agreeing to extend the settlement moratorium. However, Saturday's unanimous decision by dozens of senior members of the PLO and Abbas's Fatah movement makes compromise increasingly unlikely. “There will be no negotiations as long as settlement building continues,” senior Abbas's aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said after the three-hour meeting at Abbas' headquarters.
