SIRTE, Libya: An Arab League committee said in a statement Friday it will give Washington one month to save direct Mideast talks, which it warned would collapse unless Israeli settlement building ends. The Arab League Follow-up Committee on the peace process said after meeting in the Libyan city of Sirte it would meet again in a month to consider “new alternatives” if US efforts, to keep the direct talks which started on Sept. 2, fail. It urged the United States in the interim to pursue efforts to halt Israeli settlement activity. Arab foreign ministers also endorsed Abbas's refusal to continue the talks unless Israel extends its moratorium on Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank. But they want to keep the process going for now. “The follow-up committee recalled the necessity for a halt to settlements if the negotiations are going to continue, and it will meet again at the start of next month to examine the results of discussions that will take place between now and then,” Nabil Abu Rdainah, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said. At the urging of Washington, the Arab foreign ministers were seeking ways to avert the collapse of the process launched by the White House just five weeks ago. “There are no talks at the moment because the position of the Israelis is very, very negative. They are not cooperating in the negotiations,” Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said earlier on Friday before hearing from Abbas. He made clear the committee would not be telling the Palestinian president what to do next, but listening. Abu Rdainah earlier said Abbas told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a telephone conversation Thursday that “Israel must fully stop settlement activities so that the peace process can succeed”. “The Americans told us that they are continuing with their efforts with Israeli government. We are waiting to see the result of these efforts,” he added. Launched in Washington on Sept. 2, the talks veered into a dead end on Sept. 26 when Netanyahu refused to extend the 10-month halt to settlement he announced last November. Abbas has said he wants to go on negotiating but cannot unless the building of new homes for Jewish settlers is frozen for “three to four months more to give peace a chance”. Abbas was expected to win full Arab League backing for refusing to continue talks until Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu extends his November 2009, 10-month moratorium on Jewish settlement-building in the occupied West Bank. There was no comment from Israel as the sabbath closed down official business for the weekend.
