TEL AVIV, November 24, 2007, (WAFA)- Israeli daily Newspaper “Haaretz” said Friday that President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying that Israel and the Palestinian National Authority have failed to agree on a joint statement to be presented at next week's U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference.

At a meeting of Arab League Foreign Ministers on Friday on the progress of talks between PNA and Israel , Abbas said the negotiations were genuine, but both sides stuck to their positions, and Israel brought about the talks failure.

“The negotiating teams are not expected to meet again before a Monday session in the United States, one day before the summit. Should the teams fail in that final effort to formulate a statement, the summit will conclude with a statement by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and not a joint Israel-PNA statement”, according to the newspaper.