West Bank moratorium ends, talking doesn't

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Israel's 10-month moratorium on new West Bank construction expired at midnight Sunday with Israelis and Palestinians agreeing to keep talking, officials said.

The Jerusalem Post reported the two sides agreed to spend another week trying to find a way to keep the recently restarted direct peace negotiations on track.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will not announce he is quitting the talks before the Oct. 4 Arab League meeting, and, because of the Jewish holiday of Succot, no major construction boom by Israelis is anticipated in the settlements, the Post said.

Efforts to broker a compromise during the weekend were being facilitated by U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a statement in which he called on Abbas to "continue the sincere and good talks that have just begun, with the goal of reaching a historic peace agreement between our two peoples."

The statement said Netanyahu had been in touch with senior officials in the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama and also spoke with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Netanyahu said Israel was willing to continue discussions in the next several days with the goal of finding a way to keep the direct talks going.

"I hope that President Abbas will remain in the talks and continue with me on the path of peace which we started three weeks ago, after many in the world have now realized that my intentions of reaching peace are serious and sincere and that I honor my commitments," Netanyahu said.

"I say to President Abbas, for the sake of both our peoples, let us focus on what is truly important -- accelerated, sincere and continuous talks to reach a historic framework agreement within a year."

The Los Angeles Times reported Abbas arrived in Paris Sunday to meet with French officials. Abbas repeated his call for Israel to extend a full moratorium and his negotiating teams has rejected Israel's compromise offers so far, the Times said.