Palestinians responded coolly today to calls by US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move from indirect to direct peace negotiations, dpa reported. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat blamed Netanyahu for blocking the way to direct negotiations, because of his refusal to meet Palestinian demands for a full freeze on Israeli construction in both the occupied West Bank and Al-Quds. The Palestinian Authority has decried as insufficient a partial 10-month freeze on construction in Israeli West Bank settlements - but not East Jerusalem - which Netanyahu declared last November. Erekat, asked if he expected more US pressure on the Palestinians in the wake of Tuesday's meeting between Obama and Netanyahu, said: "The whole world and the US administration knows that the one who is blocking the door to direct negotiations is Netanyahu. "We are sincerely interested in starting direct negotiations, but Netanyahu keeps closing the door in front of us," Erekat told Voice of Palestine Radio. "Netanyahu must decide if he wants peace or settlements. He cannot have both." He also reiterated that the Palestinians first want to see progress in indirect talks on the issues of borders and security, and for direct negotiations to resume from where they ended in December 2008, during an election campaign in Israel that saw the nationalist Netanyahu return to power. "The world knows that starting direct talks is in the hands of Netanyahu. All he has to do is say that all settlement activities, even those in Jerusalem, will stop," Erekat, a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said. "We have had a peace process for 19 years, but the Israeli settlement policy has not changed," he added. -- SPA
