Arab League foreign ministers on Wednesday said failed US-brokered Palestinian negotiations with Israel could resume only with a proposal that guarantees results, according to a draft declaration obtained by AFP.
The Palestinians have insisted on a new moratorium to Israeli settlement building in the West Bank before they renew talks with Israel that broke off three weeks after their launch on September 2.
The Arab League's follow-up committee met with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Cairo on Wednesday, as US envoy George Mitchell engaged in other high-level.
The committee "sees that the direction of negotiations has become ineffective because of the Israeli position and the United States' inability to produce results," the draft said.
"Based on this, the committee decides that the resumption of talks will be conditioned on receiving a serious proposal that guarantees progress in the peace process."
The draft also called on Washington to to "clearly" specify the border of a future Palestinian state based on frontiers before Israel conquered the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in 1967.
Hours before the meeting Mitchell pledged to pursue "substantive" talks with Israel and the Palestinians in coming days.
In the West Bank, an official said Mitchell, in a meeting with Abbas on Tuesday, had suggested the US administration hold "parallel talks with the Palestinian and Israeli sides separately, and not negotiations."
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