Abbas hints at settlement compromise

The Palestinian leader has insinuated he’s prepared to drop his ultimatum on contentious settlements in East Jerusalem.

Meeting in Washington earlier this month, Mahmoud Abbas said he’d be forced to leave Mideast peace negotiations if Israel did not extend its freeze on the construction of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. A 10-month moratorium on construction ends on Sunday, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has no intention of extending it. The city is the intended site of the capital of any future Palestinian state. Speaking to a meeting of Jewish American leaders in New York yesterday, Abbas said that he will not necessarily leave negotiations if the freeze isn’t extended, but it will be difficult to proceed. Observers are taking his remarks as a sign that his stance has softened, giving the difficult peace process a rare dose of optimism.