The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is still crippled despite a U.S.-sponsored summit between leaders of the two sides, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday, Xinhua reported.
"The situation is difficult and meetings with Israeli officials don't mean negotiations," said Nabil Abu Rdineh in a statement published Thursday by the Ramallah-based al-Ayyam daily.
On Tuesday, Abbas met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a three-party summit chaired by U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
It was the first time that Abbas met Netanyahu since the hawkish Israeli leader "who refuses to freeze Jewish settlement in the West Bank" took office in early April.
Abu Rdineh said, "Our position is the same; there will be no negotiations without stopping the settlement."
He added that the U.S.-sponsored meetings "will continue in the coming period of time to create the suitable atmosphere for resuming the negotiations."
Meanwhile, Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper reported that another meeting will take place in New York Thursday evening between Israeli and Palestinian officials.
The meeting will comprise Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator, and Yitzhak Molcho, Netanyahu's top political advisor, and the U.S. administration would be present as a third party, Ha' aretz reported.
Following his meeting with Netanyahu, Abbas said the negotiations seek an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and aim to establish an independent Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Netanyahu has said he can't freeze "life" in the West Bank settlements, arguing that his government is committed to providing facilities and building clinics and schools for a quarter of a million Jews living in the settlements.
Abu Rdineh, the Palestinian spokesman, said Netanyahu's recent remarks contradict Israel's obligations under the Road Map, the U. S.-backed plan which envisions a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.
"We seek American pressure on Israel to carry out its Road Map commitments," he said.
Abbas will leave New York on Friday after he delivers a speech before the UN General Assembly, Abu Rdineh said.
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