The Arab approval gives the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, the political cover he needs to accept the offer. Abbas has staunchly rejected direct talks unless Israel calls a complete halt to the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - and he had been wary of entering even indirect talks without Arab backing.
The gathering of 14 Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo agreed.
“Despite the lack of conviction in the seriousness of the Israeli side, the committee sees that it would give the indirect talks the chance as a last attempt, and to facilitate the US role,’’ said Amr Moussa, Arab League secretary general, reading from a statement.
Moussa said Arab foreign ministers backed the talks on the condition that they last four months. “This should not be an open-ended process,’’ he said.
The ministers also said the indirect negotiations, which would involve US officials shuttling back and forth between the sides, should not turn into direct Israeli-Palestinian talks without a total freeze in settlement construction.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel instituted a 10-month halt on new construction in the West Bank in November, but the stoppage does not apply to building that was already started, nor to construction in East Jerusalem, the sector of the city that Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state.
Moussa warned that if indirect talks fail to yield results, Arabs will call for an emergency Security Council meeting to address the Arab-Israeli conflict and would ask Washington not to use its veto.
Abbas has been eager to secure US guarantees that Israel will be committed to the outcome of the talks before agreeing to negotiations, but he said Tuesday that he would adhere to the Arab foreign ministers’ decision.
Yesterday’s statement did not receive the unanimous support of the 14 Arab nations that took part in the meeting.
Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem of Syria interrupted Moussa while he was reading the statement, insisting that the decision on whether to join indirect talks was up to the Palestinians. “The Palestinians are better positioned to know what to do,’’ he said.
