Israel and the Palestinians will not be able to reach a peace agreement before the end of this year, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday. "I don't think it's possible to clear an accord by the end of this year as both the U.S. and the Israeli administrations are now busy with other matters and the very short time does not allow for striking such a deal," Abbas said at the start of a two-day visit to Romania.
"I would like to say after the election processes are over, we will resume negotiations and contacts to clear all the outstanding files in discussion. We will try to close these files because up until now none have been closed," he said, according to Reuters.
The United States chooses a new president Tuesday and Israel is to hold a parliamentary election on February 10, 2009.
