Erekat: Abbas to send Netanyahu letter

President Mahmoud Abbas will send a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set the foundations for a Palestinian state, PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said Wednesday. The long-awaited missive was first announced several weeks ago. PLO officials said it will repeat the leadership's demand that Israel stop building illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land. The same demand has been repeatedly refused by Netanyahu and led to the breakdown of the last round of negotiations in September 2010. Speaking at a Fatah meeting in Nablus, Erekat said Palestinians were closer to achieving an independent state than ever. Israel is procrastinating in order to change the principles of the peace process to their own interests, he added. But uprisings across the region will eventually benefit the Palestinian cause and the issue of Palestine will be impossible to ignore as new democracies emerge in the Arab world, the PLO official said.