Mahmud Abbas (L) and Cristina Kirchner
BUENOS AIRES — Argentine President Cristina Kirchner on Monday urged the United States to "do more" to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations as she held talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
"The United States could do more than it is doing" to relaunch negotiations between the two sides, Kirchner told a joint press conference with Abbas in Buenos Aires.
"We cannot ignore the role the United States has, by virtue of their particular weight, in bringing Israel back to the negotiating table" and restarting talks on accords signed by previous Israeli governments, she said.
Peace talks have been on hold since the beginning of the year and remain stalled over Israel's refusal to halt settlement construction, which the Palestinians have set as a precondition for negotiations.
Abbas Monday repeated his call for a "complete halt" to settlement building.
"What we are calling for is what is included in the road map: that Israel completely halt all settlement construction, including natural growth," he said.
"It is what Obama said in Cairo," Abbas added, referring to an address to the Muslim world that US President Barack Obama made in Egypt in June.
Obama and his administration have repeatedly called on the Israeli government to halt settlement construction in accordance with the road map peace plan.
Last week, Obama criticized Israel's announcement that it would launch new construction in annexed east Jerusalem saying settlement construction "embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous."
The announced construction of 900 new homes outraged Palestinians, prompting them to say they would unilaterally seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders.
Yet Abbas was quick to stress that Palestinians were not readying for a new intifada, or uprising, similar to the previous two that erupted in 1987, and in 2000.
"The Palestinian people are thinking not about that, but about negotiations leading to peace," he said.
More broadly, Kirchner reiterated her country's position that Argentina "has been clear and forthright about the need for a Palestinian state with secure borders for Israel," while adding that her government condemns all forms of religious extremism.
"All parties must comply with international law and fulfill the agreements," Kirchner said.
Abbas is on a two-day visit to Buenos Aires as part of a tour of several South American nations, and comes a week after Israeli President Shimon Peres visited Argentina and Brazil.
During his own recent visit to Brazil, Abbas and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva criticized Israel's decision to continue settlement expansion, with Lula saying the work "must be frozen."
The Palestinian leader also called on Lula to play a greater role in international efforts to reach an agreement on Middle East peace.
Abbas, accompanied on his trip by his foreign minister Riad al-Malki, among other officials, closes his visit to Argentina on Tuesday with a visit to Congress, before continuing his regional tour to Chile, Paraguay and Venezuela.
Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ge7CSk4E_Z9nhCKvwayvm_ogdcRQ
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