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Dubai: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concluded on Tuesday another peace mission between the Palestinians and Israelis without succeeding in ironing out any of the obstacles in their negotiations particularly those related to colonies and borders, Palestinian politicians said.
"According to the information I have and the contacts I made," former Palestinian minister and politician Ghassan Al Khatib said, "this mission has not succeeded in overcoming the obstacles facing the Palestinian-Israeli talks", he told Gulf News.
No Palestinian official was immediately available to comment.
However, Rice before wrapping up her talks with senior officials from the two sides, sought to express her optimism.
She said Palestinians and Israelis were "somewhat closer" in their talks. Rice also called on Israel not to undermine their talks with Palestinians through building more colonies.
"The settlement activity is not conducive to creating an environment for negotiations," Rice told a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "Yet negotiations go on."
Colonies, are the "main obstacles" in the peace process, Abbas said.
But Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Rice said in reference to settlements that "anything that undermines confidence between the parties ought to be avoided". She was speaking in a joint press conference with Rice Tuesday morning.
"Borders/colonies are the only topic that there are serious, deep and detailed negotiations over it between the Palestinians and Israelis (at present)," commented Al Khatib on the focus of the statements on colonies activities.
The two sides are trying to introduce few changes on the June 4, 1967 border lines they are negotiating over in which they might reach an agreement on land swap, explained Al Khatib.
But while the Palestinians are attempting to make the percentage of land swap with the Israelis along the border lines very small, the Israelis are offering higher percentage.
While the negotiations continue, Israel has accelerated its colonies construction in the past few months.
According to a report by Israel's Peace Now group, citing data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, construction had begun on more than 443 structures in settlements in the occupied West Bank since January compared with 240 starts in the same period in 2007.
Apart from the borders, the Palestinians insist on including the two sensitive issues of future of Jerusalem and the right of return to millions of Palestinian refugees in the ongoing negotiations, noted Palestinian politicians. Israel refuses.
The Palestinians insist on rejecting Rice's efforts to reach a "shelf agreement" with the Israelis, Al Khatib said.
"Rice is pushing in the direction of reaching such an agreement," Al Khaib said. "They are concerned with such a document regardless of its content. But the Palestinians want a real and a practical solution."
The "Shelf Agreement" was leaked to the press recently. It is an American brainchild in which both Palestinians and Israelis will detail their positions over different issues as a stock taking. And when the negotiations resume at a later stage, they won't start from square one, but from the point they reached before, Palestinian analysts explained.
The proposed agreement was also rejected by Israelis out of fear it might constitute a pressuring tool on them in the future, Israeli analysts believe.
- With additional input from agencies
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