Abbas negotiator says no document for Annapolis

The chief negotiator for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday he would hold no more talks with his Israeli counterpart after a meeting on Saturday failed to make progress on a joint policy document.Ahmed Qurie and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni have led teams trying to draft a document to be presented at next week’s Middle East conference in Annapolis that would lay out how to resume negotiations on a Palestinian state. Qurie told Reuters he now expected no such joint document to be presented.

“The negotiations have come to an end without achieving the results we have been seeking,” Qurie said before Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were due to meet to try to find ways to resolve differences over resuming peace talks.

Asked if he expected the U.S. conference hosts to draft a declaration for the conference that would at least confirm the resumption of a peace negotiating process, Qurie said: “President Abbas and Olmert today will discuss these issues and we will also discuss them with the Americans.”