Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that he would not resume peace talks with Israel if settlement building in the West Bank and East Al-Quds continued. "We will not accept negotiations as long as settlements continue and there must be clear references for peace," dpa cited Abbas telling the press in Cairo after talks with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak. Direct talks began in early September but fell apart within a month, after Israel refused to renew a 10-month partial moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank. Abbas' comments come two days after the US said it was unable to broker a new Israeli settlement freeze. Reports had recently emerged that the US had offered a lucrative incentive package to Israel in exchange for a new three-month settlement freeze. "We have been pursuing a moratorium as a means to create conditions for a return to meaningful and sustained negotiations," US State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley said on Tuesday. "After a considerable effort, we have concluded that this does not create a firm basis to work towards our shared goal of a framework agreement," Crowley said. Abbas said that he did not yet know what "had taken place between Israel and the US," adding that he would present all the information he received to the Arab League's follow up committee, scheduled to meet in Cairo early next week.
