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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said an Israeli refusal to extend a construction freeze in Jewish settlements in the West Bank would undermine direct peace talks that start this week in Washington. “Israel will be responsible for the failure or collapse of the talks if it continues expanding settlements in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967,” Abbas said.
Netanyahu, at the outset of Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, said his goal was a peace agreement based on the following principles: “The recognition of Israel as the national state of the Jewish people, the end of the conflict and of claims on Israel, that will stem from recognizing it as the national state of the Jewish people, and the establishment of tangible security measures.
To that, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris before traveling to Washington, officials said. While King Abdullah II of Jordan had already left to Washington to meet US President Barack Obama before the beginning of the direct peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
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