SIRTE, Libya - Arab leaders failed to agree on Sunday whether to back indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, making it unlikely the talks aimed at reviving the stalled peace process will happen any time soon. The Arab League this month endorsed a plan for so-called proximity talks mediated by the United States, but days later the Palestinians said they were at risk after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 homes in a settlement near east Jerusalem. A two-day summit of the league in the Libyan town of Sirte ended without a formal statement being adopted on the talks issue -- or a proposal for dialogue with Iran that was also on the agenda -- after disagreements between member states. Speaking to reporters after the summit closed, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa acknowledged the urgency of taking a collective decision on the Israeli-Palestinian talks. "Within the next few weeks we have to decide what to do: whether to continue with the negotiations or to completely shift course," he told a news conference. He pointed to growing impatience with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and warned that if there was no progress soon, Arab states would focus instead on alternative proposals for solving the conflict. "We cannot enter into a vicious circle to be added to the hundreds of previous vicious circles that will end in another zero result. We are fed up with this," Moussa said. It is unlikely Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will hold negotiations with Israel without the Arab League's endorsement, because he needs its help to face down opposition to the talks from Palestinian hardliners backed by Syria and Iran. The Arab League has a track record of struggling to agree strong collective action because of divisions among its 22 member countries, and the two-day summit in the Libyan town of Sirte appeared to have suffered the same problem. A summit committee had submitted a draft statement reaffirming the league's commitment to talks, provided that Israel stops all settlement activity. Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif told Reuters the question of Palestinian-Israeli talks would be the main item on the agenda for the summit's final day. But the statement on the talks failed to appear when the summit ended. The final session finished so abruptly that organisers had to hurriedly round up journalists, and a Libyan military band, so they could be present at the closing ceremony. Moussa said the Arab League would hold an extraordinary summit at an unspecified date later in the year to tackle items on the agenda, including reform of the league, which it had been unable to agree in Sirte. The summit also failed to find consensus for a proposal from the Arab League chief that the organisation should start talking to Tehran to address concerns about Iran's nuclear programme. "I do not believe the time has come where we can see that Iran has changed its behaviour towards Arab countries," Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal told reporters. Concerns about Iran are especially acute among its neighbours across the Gulf, who fear they could be caught up in the fallout from any conflict over the nuclear programme, which Tehran says is peaceful.
