Israel, Palestinians to meet in Washington

GAZA, July 5 (UPI) -- Negotiators will meet within the next 10 days to discuss the status of Mideast peace talks, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Palestinian and Israeli representatives will meet in Washington soon to try to give a nudge to stalled talks aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state, Ynetnews reported.

At the same, time he chided Israel for dragging its feet.

"The entire world sees the need for the establishment of a Palestinian state, but unfortunately Israel continues to stall for time and is displaying a lack of seriousness, and so far we have not agreed on any of the core issues," Rudeineh said.

He added that Abbas is expected to visit Syria soon as part of an effort to strengthen the Palestinian Authority's ties to the Arab world in the wake of the Palestinians' internal Fatah-Hamas factional dispute.