Palestinian official against direct talks with Israel

A senior Palestinian official Wednesday said that direct peace talks with Israel will not lead to any permanent political solution.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, the Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee secretary general, told Voice of Palestine Radio that "we had tried the direct peace talks once, twice and hundreds of times and we made big failures".

"Any coming talks will be a big deception and an attempt to win more time aiming at committing more crimes, mainly the tight measures in Jerusalem, the land confiscation and the expansion of settlement," Xinhua quoted Abed Rabbo as telling the radio station.

Rabbo's statement came after a US State Department spokeswoman said that the Palestinian state could only be achieved through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Direct peace talks between the two sides stopped in March due to differences on the questions of settlement and the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Rabbo praised the French parliament for the recognition of a Palestinian state, saying that "it is a positive step that will have positive influence on other European countries and the entire world".

The UN Security Council is scheduled to debate and vote in the coming week on a Palestinian draft resolution backed by Arab states, which asks for a timetable within three years to end the Israeli occupation.