The Arab League said it backed indirect peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, despite what it called a lack of Israeli conviction in the process. Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told a Cairo news conference that a final decision to resume indirect talks with Israel will be taken by the Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee. He also said building in the disputed east Jerusalem neighbourhood that first torpedoed earlier planned proximity talks will stop the Palestinians from indirectly negotiating. If they build one unit out of the 1,600, we will not go to the talks, Erakat said of Israeli plans to build more settler homes in the holy city. In March the Palestinians, with Arab backing, reluctantly agreed to indirect US-brokered talks for a period of four months, but those plans collapsed days later when Israel said during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden that it would build 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem. The Arab League decision to endorse so-called proximity talks was taken by a committee of foreign ministers after guarantees by US President Barack Obama in a letter to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
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