The Arab League laid out Thursday the three main conditions on which its support for direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks depend, but remained doubtful as to whether a stalemate could be broken, dpa reported
In a letter addressed to the United States administration, the league said it needed a clear timeframe, specific reference terms and a monitoring mechanism in order to support direct talks.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa said at a press conference in Cairo that he was "not of the intention to enter into negotiations" without the implementation of the conditions.
Any future round of direct talks, Moussa said, would be the "final phase" of negotiations.
But Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, sitting beside him at the press conference, said he was "full of doubts" about Israel's seriousness regarding final status negotiations.
"Our hope after all these years is for the US to know that we are serious. We do not have guarantees but we have hopes that (US President Barack) Obama will take this seriously," Bin Jassem said at the press conference.
Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday his country had no plans to extend a building freeze on West Bank settlements after September, rejecting one of Abbas' primary conditions for moving to direct negotiations.
"There must be a clear Arab position," Bin Jassem insisted, while outlining the league's response to the Israeli decision.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked for the meeting to update the Arab League about the stalled peace process, which has so far failed to bring the two sides into direct talks.
In November last year Israel declared a partial and limited 10- month construction freeze, which did not include East Jerusalem. Palestinians said this was insufficient, but mediation by US envoy George Mitchell resulted in indirect talks getting underway earlier this year.
"There are no convincing justifications to move to direct negotiations amid no progress achieved in the proximity talks," said Walid Abu Yousef, a politician allied with the Palestinian leader, ahead of the meeting.
The Arab League's committee on the peace process - a body headed by the Qataris and which includes key diplomats from major Arab states - has supported the US-backed proximity talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
The league generally adds a caveat to its position, saying the Palestinians have the final say in their affairs.
However, the committee said it would bring the peace process back to the United Nations Security Council if the parties were unable to move to direct negotiations by early September. Later that month, the UN General Assembly will also convene in New York.
In 2002, the Arab League backed an initiative - never formally accepted by Israel - they said was designed to move the region towards a peace agreement.
The deal called for Israel withdrawing from all territories occupied in the 1967 war, the establishment of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" to the refugee crisis sparked by the 1948 war.
In return for settling these affairs, the Arab world promised to normalize relations with the Jewish state. Currently only Egypt and Jordan have full diplomatic ties to Israel. Mauritania cut ties in 2009, following the war in the Gaza Strip, after a decade of relations