JERUSALEM - The Palestinian president said Monday he would wait at least a week before deciding whether to quit Mideast peace talks, giving U.S. mediators time to broker a compromise after Israel refused to extend its 10-month moratorium on new West Bank settlement construction.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the negotiations if Israel resumes building in the settlements. But with the stakes so high, Abbas said during a visit to Paris that he would not make any hasty decisions. He said he would consult with the Palestinian leadership before discussing the matter with representatives of the 22-member Arab League next Monday.
"We will not have any quick reactions," he said at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "After this chain of meetings, we will be able to put out a position that clarifies the Palestinian and Arab opinion on this issue now that Israel has refused to freeze settlements."
A senior Palestinian official said the Palestine Liberation Organization's 18-member decision-making body would meet Wednesday or Thursday.
The construction restrictions that the Israeli government had imposed expired at midnight Sunday. Immediately afterward, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Abbas to keep negotiating.
U.S. officials said they were still working with Israelis and Palestinians to find a formula that would keep the talks alive. In Washington, the State Department said envoy George Mitchell would return to the region on Tuesday.
In Cairo, an Arab League official said its foreign ministers were expected to endorse whatever position Abbas took. In Paris, Sarkozy invited both Abbas and Netanyahu to meeting there next month, and both accepted.
Jewish settlers in the West Bank jubilantly marked the end of the construction curbs on Sunday, breaking ground for a kindergarten and vowing to build thousands of new homes. But Monday, there was only a smattering of construction in different settlements.
