President Abbas has been reportedly concerned over of the Annapolis peace summit, hosted by Washington last November, the Jerusalem-based aL-Manar Arabic online publication reported.
According to the aL-Manar, a senior Palestinian diplomat, speaking in a condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying ‘ President Mahmoud Abbas has informed an Arab leader recently that he is inclined to declare ostensibly his pessimism over peace talks underway with Israel’.
The diplomatic source told the Arab publication that Abbas believes that the Annapolis summit, which the Palestinians took as a launching pad for the realization of a Palestinian state by end of 2008, has not yet achieved any concrete progress.
Abbas blamed Israel for such a stalemate for what Abbas called ‘ unilateral actions that aim at transforming facts on the ground, in a way that creates a de-facto situation, where reaching an agreement will be unlikely soon.
The diplomat also added that Abbas has conveyed fears to that Arab leader that the peace process might totally collapse, thus raising potentiality of regional instability.
Abbas’s concerns come on the heels of planned Israeli settlements building on the disputed occupied east Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as their future capital, continued Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and Israeli insistence not to reach any agreement until the ruling Hamas in Gaza gives up arms.
Despite repeated U.S mediations between Palestinians and Israelis since the Annapolis summit was first opened in November of last year, no progress has been yet made at the negotiations level.
