Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat says Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are unlikely to resume in the near future since Tel Aviv is seeking an escape clause to avoid meaningful negotiations.

"Israel's latest violence against Palestinian worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque does not correspond to actions of a genuine partner for peace," Erakat said.

The Palestinian official added, "Israel is tightening the noose around ordinary Palestinians through endemic violence and at the same time relentlessly pursuing a 'colonization policy' at the occupied East Jerusalem (al-Quds) and the rest of West Bank."

Erekat concluded that such policies shape a gloomy future for the Mideast peace talks.

Under the 2002 Roadmap for a Peace plan brokered by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia, Israel has to 'dismantle settlement outposts erected since 2001 and also freeze all settlement activities.'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose right-leaning coalition includes pro-settler parties, has resisted calls for a total freeze on settlements in the occupied West Bank.

It is estimated that more than 285,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the buildings erected on the occupied lands that the Palestinians claim for a future state.

MP/MB