RAMALLAH - The Palestinian leadership and Egypt have agreed that any initiative to push forward peace talks between Palestinians and Israel should base on halting Jewish settlement in the occupied lands, a Palestinian official said Monday. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestine Liberation Organisation ( PLO) official, denied reports that Egypt's recent efforts could ignore the Palestinian demand on settlement freeze in the West Bank. Egypt "wants a solution to all final-status issues, and not to seek a partial one," Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine Radio. His remarks came before Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and Egypt's intelligence chief's visit to Washington Tuesday. Egyptian official's talks with US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, will focus on resuming the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, which the United States had brokered in September, the local media reported. Israel resumed construction in the settlements on Sept. 26 after 10 months of partial moratorium, which the Palestinians accused of complicating the efforts to establish a Palestinian statehood. Israel last month revealed a plan to build 1,250 housing units in an east occupied Jerusalem settlement. "This is a proof that resuming the negotiations with the current Israeli government is impossible, " Abed Rabbo said.
