"The settlements must be halted and continuing them will signal the end of the peace process," Palestinian spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told journalists.

He was speaking after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no change in Israel's position on ending the 10-month freeze on settlement construction later this month.

"If he (Netanyahu) insists on destroying the peace negotiations and defying all the international community's desire to see it succeed, he will go back to settlements," Abu Rudeina said.

"If he does so, he destroys the negotiations," he said.

Netanyahu told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton late Tuesday there was "no change to the cabinet decision to end the (partial construction freeze) at the end of September 2010," his office said.

"It is impossible to take the issue of settlements in the West Bank, which is an issue for the permanent agreement, and deal with it separately at the beginning of the direct talks," his office quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Israel and the Palestinians are due to resume direct talks on Thursday for the first time in 20 months.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in comments published Wednesday that Israel must extend a settlement moratorium for the negotiations to succeed.

related report
Israel, Palestinians must not miss peace chance: Obama
US President Barack Obama on Wednesday pleaded with Israelis and Palestinians not to let slip a fleeting opportunity for peace, as he launched a landmark Middle East diplomatic initiative.

"This moment of opportunity may not soon come again," Obama warned after holding separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and the leaders of Egypt and Jordan.

"They cannot afford to let it slip away. Now is the time for leaders of courage and vision to deliver the peace that their people deserve."

Obama promised to put the "full weight" of the United States behind the effort to forge peace between Israelis and Palestinians in direct talks between the two sides that begin at the State Department on Thursday.

"If both sides do not commit to these talks in earnest, then the long-standing conflict will only continue to fester and consume another generation. This we simply cannot allow."

"We know there will be moments that test our resolve. We know that extremists and enemies of peace will do everything in their power to destroy this effort," Obama said.

Despite his vow to shepherd the peace talks, Obama warned however that the United States could not simply impose a solution to the decades-long conflict.

"Ultimately the United States cannot impose a solution and we cannot want it more than the parties themselves," Obama said.

The US leader, who is investing substantial political and diplomatic capital in the effort, also said Israeli and Palestinian leaders had said they believed a deal could be struck within his one-year timeline.

He said that the talks would aim to resolve all of the most testing "final status" issues between the two sides.

"The goal is a settlement, negotiated between the parties that ends the occupation which began in 1967 and results in the emergence of an independent, democratic, and viable Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with a Jewish state of Israel and its other neighbors."

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