Palestinian president says talks with Israel are over

GlobalPost

Any dialogue between Palestine and Israel about resuming full peace negotiations for a future border have ended, without any progress, the Associated Press reported.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said low-level dialogue between the two countries has ended after a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah. He said he will discuss what move to make next with the Arab League next week, the BBC reported.

Read more at GlobalPost: Israel jails Palestinian parliament speaker for six months

Abbas is currently under pressure to extend mediated exploratory talks with Jordan, which many hope will lead to a resumption of long-stalled formal negotiations on establishing a Palestinian state, the AP reported. Despite this, Abbas expressed his frustrations with the lack of progress between Palestine and Israel.

In recent weeks, Palestinian and Israeli negotiators have met five times in Jordan. Israel said on Wednesday it was willing to continue talks with Palestine. However, Abbas said he would decide after meeting with the Arab League on Feb. 4, the AP reported.

Read more at GlobalPost: Israeli prisons accused of mistreating Palestinian children

Last fall, the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia, the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators, said they expected Israel and Palestine to submit detailed proposals on borders and security arrangements, hoping it would lead to peace talks again, the BBC reported. While Palestine said its proposal has been submitted, Israel says it has submitted an outline of the areas that needs to be discussed, but don’t call it a proposal.

"If we demarcate the borders, we can return to negotiations, but Israel does not want to do that,'' Abbas said, the BBC reported.

According to the BBC, there were never any real expectations from seasoned observers that progress between the two countries would be made by the Quartet’s deadline.

Read more at GlobalPost: Israel welcomes EU ban on Iran's oil

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.