Shaath: The negotiations with Israel are in a crisis

Palestinian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Shaath stated that the negotiations with Israel are in a crisis because the February 13 deadline for signing a framework agreement for the final stage of the peace talks with Israel has passed without success.

He said Israeli Prime Minsiter Ehud Barak had neither presented a single paper to help reach this agreement nor his suggested framework.

He added that Barak's delegates in these meetings, which numbered 22, stood far from reaching an agreement, They also went outside the reference of U.N. resolutions 242 and 338 and raised things that cannot help the Pealestinians and Israelis reach an agreement, even after 50 years, Shaath said.