The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Ramallah

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in comments published Sunday that nothing has been achieved in six months of peace talks with Israel and he fears a corruption probe of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will bog things down.

Although Abbas' pessimism regarding the U.S.-backed talks was not new, his statements to leaders of his Fatah movement Saturday night underlined the sense among both peoples that an agreement will not be obtainable by an end-2008 target. "Nothing has been achieved in the negotiations with Israel yet," Abbas said. His comments at a meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council were published Sunday in the Fatah-associated al-Ayyam daily and confirmed by meeting participants. The United States has been pushing for a final agreement before the end of President George W. Bush's term in January. Both sides have kept largely quiet about the talks, but neither has hinted at any serious progress and the situation remains unchanged on the ground: Israel continues to build in areas the Palestinians claim for a future state, and hasn't scaled back a network of roadblocks that it says are essential to its security but have hurt Palestinian economic recovery.