The Palestinian president said Monday he would wait at least a week before deciding whether to pull out of Mideast peace talks, giving US mediators time to broker a compromise following the end of an Israeli moratorium on West Bank settlement construction. Meanwhile, settlement building resumed across the West Bank just hours after a 10-month freeze expired. As bulldozers across the West Bank lumbered into action, President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters in Paris he would not rush to respond to Israel's failure to extend the freeze, but would first consult Palestinian and Arab leaders. He said the Palestinians would hold a cabinet meeting later this week and then discuss the next step with Arab foreign ministers on Oct. 4. “After all these meetings we may be able to issue a position to clarify what is the Palestinian and Arab opinion on this matter, after Israel has refused to freeze settlements,” Abbas said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu imposed the slowdown last year to help coax the Palestinians to the negotiating table. But under pressure from pro-settler elements in his governing coalition, Netanyahu has said he will not extend the order. Nonetheless, Netanyahu has left the door open to some sort of compromise. Early Monday, Netanyahu urged the Palestinians to continue negotiations, and his chief negotiator has remained in Washington to work with mediators on reaching a deal. Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would ask President Abbas, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to hold peace talks in Paris before the end of October. Both Abbas and Netanyahu had agreed to the Paris talks, Sarkozy said. He made the announcement at a news conference with Abbas after talks in Paris, saying the talks should help prepare a summit in late November of leaders from European and Mediterranean countries including Mideast players. Sarkozy sharply criticized the Israeli decision of not extending the moratorium. “We regret that the unanimous calls for the moratorium on Israeli settlement building to be extended were not listened to. I deplore this,” Sarkozy said. Asked if the call for more talks in Paris complicated peace efforts initiated by Washington, Sarkozy said nothing could be done without US support but that was not enough in itself to secure a lasting solution to the Mideast conflict. “Nothing will be resolved without strong American backing,” he said.
