UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Thursday met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Stating that the settlement activities were resulting in increasing the sense of mistrust of the Palestinians in Israel, Ban said "It makes the two state solution impossible."
Ban, expressing his concerns for the Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, some of whom were on hunger strike, said "Israel should release the administrative prisoners or bring them to trial."
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said all issues of contention with Israel had been discussed at a new round of peace talks, although he abided by an agreed news blackout.
Abbas said during the press conference following his meeting with Ban that he had promised to return to negotiation’s table and kept his promise.
Reminding that Palestine was a country under the occupation of Israel, Abbas said that he hoped that Israel would free prisoners, stop settlement activities and engage in negotiations.
Abbas commented on the outcome of the first negotiations that all issues presented on the table would be discussed such as borders, Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, security and prisoners.
He said “We can’t say from the first round to talk about what happened. We just hope that the coming days will bring answers that we can give to you.”
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