By Xinhua,
Ramallah : A spokesman for Palestinian Presidency on Monday denied reports that President Mahmoud Abbas was considering resignation if no peace deal is reached with Israel in six months.
“Such reports which come from time to time are untrue and has no basis,” said the spokesman Nabil Abu Rdineh.
The reports quoted Yossi Beilin, a left-wing Israeli lawmaker, as saying that Abbas had told him about his intention to resign if Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) fail to achieve a peace deal during the coming six months.
At their meeting during the World Economic Forum in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday, Abbas told Beilin that the coming six months “will be decisive and fateful.”
The Palestinians and Israel plan to reach the deal before U.S. President George W. Bush quits the White House at the beginning of 2009. In last November, the U.S. efforts have succeeded to resume Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Meanwhile, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Abbas was still committed to the peace negotiations aiming at the creation of an independent Palestinian statehood, “but he will look into his options if no deal is reached by the end of 2008.”
“Abu Mazen (Abbas) told us he has open options,” Erekat added.
Abbas won elections as Palestinian president in January 2005 as successor for late PNA leader Yasser Arafat.