Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday demanded Israel to show goodwill towards peace by halting settlement activities and implement the international agreements, Xinhua reported.
The state-run Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted Abbas as saying during his meeting with visiting Greece Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas in Ramallah that halting settlement is not a precondition for resuming the peace talks.
"Halting settlement activities is an Israeli commitment according to all international peace references," said Abbas, "U.S. President Barack Obama and the European Union (EU) demanded Israel to halt it."
The Palestinians had suspended the direct peace talks with Israel early in October after Israel refused to extend a ten-month moratorium on freezing settlement construction in the Palestinian territories.
Abbas warned of what he termed as "the obstacle that the peace process is facing," calling on the international community "to act immediately to save the process by pressuring Israel to implement its commitments."
The direct talks were suspended four weeks after restarting in Washington on Sept. 2 under the U.S. sponsorship in a bid to reach a permanent peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis within one year.