Abbas retreats from spirit of Washington: no freeze, no talks

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, speaking Sunday as if he had never met with American and Israeli leaders in the White House last week, conditioned more direct talks with Israel on an extension of the building freeze.

His statement turned back the clock to pre-White House rhetoric that had precluded face-to-face discussions with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu until last week. Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu, after individual meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama in a day of carefully choreographed discussions last Thursday, spoke with each other for over two hours behind closed doors and gave President Obama the opportunity to say he brought them together.

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell said they even agreed to meet next week for a fresh round of talks, but Abbas said on a visit to Libya Saturday night, “If the freeze period is not extended by the end of the month, there will be no negotiations."

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