I

ndonesia has expressed its disappointment at Israel’s decision to end its freeze of settlement construction in Gaza, calling it “irresponsible”, while efforts to salvage the Middle East peace negotiations continued.

“[Israel’s] decision is really disappointing and really unacceptable,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Sunday as quoted by Antara after signing the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances at the UN headquarters in New York.

“Now we, along with Palestine and other countries, are drawing up our next steps.”

Marty said that by letting its moratorium on settlement building on the West Bank expire, Israel would be held responsible if direct peace talks between the long-standing foes failed.

The talks only resumed in September this year after being halted since late 2008.

Marty said Indonesia, Brazil, India and South Africa were making up efforts in favor of Palestine, to salvage the peace process that has been thrown into doubt “because of the notoriously irresponsible behavior of the Israeli government”.

The four countries are grouped in a forum set up just last week to support Palestine.

“Now we are seeking input from the Palestinian side, for example, what they need from us. There are options for us to take, whether [to provide support] through the [UN] Security Council or the Non-Aligned Movement General Assembly,” Marty said.

On Monday night, Washington dispatched special envoy George Mitchell to the region to try to bridge gaps that Palestinian, Israeli and US officials failed to close in a frenetic round of meetings in the US last week, The Associated Press reported.

The US, which brokered the peace talks, appears to have at least one week to work on its diplomatic efforts to avert what would be a major embarrassment for US President Barack Obama, with Palestinians holding back from carrying out a threat to walk away from the table.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gave US mediation more time to work when he announced Monday he wouldn’t decide whether to abandon the talks before consulting senior Arab officials in Cairo next week, AP reported.

An Arab League official has told AP that Arab foreign ministers were expected to endorse whatever position Abbas took.

A senior Palestinian official said as quoted by AP that the Palestine Liberation Organization’s 18-member decision-making body would meet Wednesday or Thursday to formulate a position before Abbas meets with Arab League envoys.

He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal Palestinian deliberations.

US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley praised Abbas for not immediately walking out of the talks and chided Israel for resisting international pressure to halt new construction in the West Bank — territory the Palestinians claim as part of their future state.

“We are disappointed but we remain focused on our long-term objective and will be talking to the parties about the implications of the Israeli decision,” Crowley said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and senior European officials have also criticized Israel’s decision.

In Paris on Tuesday, Abbas urged Israel to halt new West Bank settlement construction as long as the Mideast talks continued, saying he feared the two sides might miss a “historic opportunity” if Israel refuses to renew the newly expired freeze.