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PNA slams Israel for provocation

Israel Materials 27 December 2010 02:06 (UTC +04:00)

A senior official of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Sunday accused Israel of continuing to provoke the PNA and President Mahmoud Abbas, Xinhua reported.

Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator, said the Israeli provocation "is part of a plan to continue with settlement expansion in the West Bank."

Erekat made his remarks after Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman attacked the PNA, describing it as illegitimate.

Lieberman, in his address to ambassadors in Israel Sunday evening, also said that reaching an imminent peace deal with the Palestinians was "unrealistic."

Erekat said that it is Israel that does not seek peace, adding that resuming the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, along with the blockade against Gaza and the checkpoints, "indicate that Israel reject the negotiations."

In early October, the Palestinians halted the U.S.-sponsored direct talks with Israel, four weeks after it was resumed in Washington. The decision was made after Israel refused to extend a ten-month moratorium over freezing settlement construction that ended on Sept. 26.

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