OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The king of Morocco has rejected a request to meet with Israel's president because of the impasse in Mideast peacemaking, an aide to the Israeli statesman said Monday in a new diplomatic fallout from the deadlocked peace talks. President Shimon Peres had asked to meet with King Mohammed VI on the sidelines of an upcoming international conference in Marrakech. But the monarch – citing the stalled talks – said the timing wasn't right, the aide said. Peres, a Nobel peace laureate who was asked to speak at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa next week, has decided not to attend because of the snub, said the aide. The aide was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. There was no immediate comment from the royal palace. Israel and Morocco don't have diplomatic ties but their officials occasionally meet, and Israelis with Moroccan roots often travel there. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, launched early last month in Washington, have stalled over Israel's refusal to extend restrictions on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank. The Palestinians say they won't negotiate if Israel resumes construction on occupied lands that the Palestinians claim for their hoped-for state. They have given the US until early November, after American midterm elections, to try to resolve the dispute.
