Abbas, Ashton discuss stalled Mideast peace talks

Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas discussed Thursday the stalled peace talks in the Middle East with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Abbas, who is currently in Paris, discussed with Ashton in a telephone conversation the stalled peace talks with Israel, Nabil Abu Rdeineh, spokesman of the Palestinian Presidency, told Xinhua Thursday. He added that Abbas and Ashton also discussed the Palestinian bid to the United Nations for a full membership of an independent state established on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967. The direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been stalled for more than one year, after hardliner Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. "There have been no new initiative presented by Ashton to prepare for a meeting between Israel and the Palestinians," said Abu Rdeineh. Earlier on Tuesday, a U.S. official said the International Quartet Committee for peace in the Middle East had called on Israel and the Palestinians to hold a new session of direct peace talks in Jordan on Oct. 23. However, a senior Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, denied in a press statement that the Quartet, which comprises the United States, the European Union, the UN and Russia, had made such an offer.