The Palestinian leadership has said it will not
continue peace talks with Israel unless a freeze on Jewish settlements
in the West Bank resumes.

President Mahmoud Abbas met Palestinian political leaders in
Ramallah to agree on a stance after settlement building resumed this
week.

“The leadership confirms that the resumption of talks
requires tangible steps, the first of them a freeze on settlements,”
said senior Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo.

After the meeting in Ramallah, President Abbas’s spokesman said consultations with US mediators would continue.

The Palestinians are not expected to make a final decision
until after an Arab League meeting due to take place in Libya next week.

Meanwhile, US envoy George Mitchell is visiting Arab
countries in an attempt to secure wider backing for continued peace
negotiations.

Israel refused to extend a 10-month ban on settlement building in the West Bank which expired last Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a further
freeze could fracture his right-wing coalition government, which is
dominated by pro-settlement parties, including his own Likud bloc.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Middle East war
of 1967. About 500,000 Jews now live in more than 100 settlements which
are held to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes
this. About 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank.

The Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip
and is not taking part in the talks, has urged Mr Abbas to withdraw.

Direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians resumed in September after a break of nearly two years.