Palestine FM expects 2013 to be crucial for peace talks

Visiting Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said here Wednesday 2013 would be a decisive year for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Interviewed by Spain's official news agency, the Palestinian official hoped that the first months of 2013 would be crucial for a settlement to the conflict with Israel, but said this would largely depend on the results of the coming Israeli election and how much the US and EU could attach attention to the Palestinian issue. He wished that the next Israeli government would be more interested in serious peace negotiations with the Palestinian side. He urged the Israeli government to scrap its recent decision to build 1,500 settlement units in Eastern Jerusalem. Malki warned that the Palestinians would not agree to resume peace negotiations with Israel unless it gave up its fresh settlement plans. The Palestinian foreign minister urged the EU to work with the US to come up with a fresh peace plan with a timetable proceeding from the two-state solution