PNA leader Mahmoud Abbas will decide the fate of the Arab-Israeli direct peace talks after consultations with the League of Arab States and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in case Israel resumes its settlement activities.
"If the moratorium on settlement construction is not extended we will turn to the Palestinian regulatory bodies and the Arab commission," Abbas told the Egynews website.
Tel Aviv has repeatedly said the 10-month moratorium on building Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlikely to be extended. Palestinians threaten to quit direct peace negotiations with Israel if the settlement construction moratorium ends.
The moratorium expires on September 26; however Palestinians have not received any news about its fate yet.
The Israeli moratorium "has become a key element in determining Israel's intentions and how committed it is to the success of the negotiations," Abbas said earlier.
Israeli-Palestinian direct peace talks came to a halt in December 2008, when Israel launched an attack on the Gaza Strip in a bid to put an end to the firing of homemade rockets at southern Israel by Palestinian militants based in the enclave. The negotiations resumed in the U.S. on September 2.
The Palestinians have cited ongoing Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, as the main obstacle to the peace process.
The Palestinian National Authority said it may ask the UN Security Council to reestablish the 1967 border with Israel if direct Mideast talks fall through.
Earlier this week, the Middle East Quartet of negotiators, comprising Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union, has also called on Israel to extend the moratorium.
CAIRO, September 26 (RIA Novosti)
