Palestinians to reconsider agreements with Israel

RAMALLAH - The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) would consider breaking agreements signed with Israel if the Israeli government continue with the current policies, a PLO official said Saturday in an interview with the Arab newspaper al-Hayat.

“There are agreements between the PLO and Israel. One party cannot continue to be committed to these agreements forever while the other party violates them,” said PLO executive committee secretary Yasser Abed Rabbo.

“There may come a time, if the Israelis continue in the same policies, to reconsider these agreements,” he added.

In an interview with the London-based Arab newspaper, Abed Rabbo referred to the Israeli settlement policy and said that “any freeze should be total and comprehensive and not limited by time”.

“If we start negotiations without clear goals, then two months or two years or two decades will not be enough for the negotiations to reach their goal,” he said.

The PLO official accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “making an alliance with the right wing in the US to weaken the Obama administration”.

The peace talks have reached an impasse, with the Israeli government not committing itself to extend the freeze on the settlements in the West Bank, the chief demand by the Palestinian government as a condition to continue the negotiations.