RAMALLAH, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Arab peace initiative is the only way to end the current peace impasse, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday.

"Dangerous consequences will engulf the region if the peace process collapsed," Abbas said when meeting with Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) President Michael Sommer in Ramallah, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Abbas urged the international community to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the settlement construction to pave the way for the resumption of the peace process.

Saudi Arabia proposed the peace initiative in 2002, later adopted by the Arab League, which offers peace to Israel in exchange for all Arab lands seized by the Jewish state in the 1967 Middle East war.

The U.S.-mediated direct peace talks hit a brick wall several weeks after they started on Sept. 2 as Israel turned down a Palestinian demand to extend an Israeli previous order of settlement construction moratorium that expired on Sept. 26.