Asia

Asia

Acting PA chief thanks Syria for support

12 September 2010 02:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas has expressed his gratitude to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for backing the Palestinian nation, APA reports quoting Press TV.

In a telephone conversation with the Syrian leader on Friday, Abbas said he was grateful for President Assadâ€™s support in "this important period in our history," the Israeli newspaper Haâ€™aretz reported, citing the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Abbas also informed the Syrian president about the details of the recently resumed direct talks with Israel. The negotiations were re-launched in Washington on September 2 after a 20-month break caused by the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which killed over 1,400 Palestinians.

The Palestinians have repeatedly said that the success of talks heavily depends on Israel halting its construction of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Palestinian side has also called on Tel Aviv to fully withdraw behind the borders of 1967, which is the year Israel occupied the West Bank.

There are growing fears that the talks could come to a halt in late September, when Israelâ€™s self-declared "freeze" on settlement activities expires.

There have already been many reports of Israelâ€™s non-compliance with the moratorium. For example, Jewish settlers announced plans to expand settlements only hours before the resumption of the negotiations.