Peres: Secret talks with PA halted in wake of Quartet plan.

Efforts to advance the peace process in behind-the-scenes meetings between Israel and the Palestinian Authority were halted to give a chance to the new Quartet peace proposal, President Shimon Peres said in an interview with the pan-Arabic daily Alsharq Alawsat published on Friday.

Peres said in the interview that his meetings with PA President Mahmoud Abbas had been in full coordination with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He said that this diplomatic channel, put on hold in September when the Quartet announced its new plan to advance the peace process, may continue in two weeks time when the Quartet proposal is set to expire.

A PA official said in August that Peres and Abbas had met four times secretly in Amman, Jordan and London, but that  Netanyahu thwarted the diplomatic channel. Peres denied that the diplomatic channel with Abbas was halted at Netanyahu's urging.