Abbas delays reaction to settlement revival

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that he would not rush to respond to Israel's failure to extend a settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian leader said his side would decide whether to pull out of the US-sponsored peace talks with Israel after holding a meeting of its own cabinet this week and holding talks Octo-ber 4 with Arab governments.

Abbas had threatened to abandon the negotiations if settlement building was revived, but later acknowledged that walking out of the talks was not in Palestine's interests.

"We regret that the unanimous calls for the moratorium on Israeli settlement building to be extended were not listened to. I deplore this," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday after talks with the Palestinian leader.

The 10-month freeze "should have been extended to give negotiations a chance. I say this in front of Abbas, 'Settlement must stop,'" he added.

Meanwhile, earth-moving equipment began work in at least two settlements in the occupied West Bank, although there was little sign during a Jewish holiday of any large scale resumption of construction.

"It's all symbolic for now," Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Atias told the YNet news website, questioning whether Defense Minister Ehud Barak, whose ministry oversees Israeli activities in the West Bank, would agree to issue new building permits.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement minutes after the expiration that Israel is ready to pursue continuous contacts in the coming days to find a way to continue peace talks with the Palestinians.

However, exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshal called on Abbas Monday to quit the peace talks, saying that Netanyahu is not the man who can make peace in the region and to negotiate without a position of strength is absurd.

Agencies