Israel-Palestinian exploratory talks 'over'

[bemildred]

The Palestinian Authority president has said the exploratory talks with Israel on resuming full peace negotiations have concluded, without any progress.

After a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman, Mahmoud Abbas told reporters that he would discuss what to do next with the Arab League next week.

Both Israel and the Palestinians have been under international pressure to resume talks on a two-state solution.

They stalled in late 2010 in a dispute over Jewish settlement construction.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16726980

[Jefferson23]

1. They're over, Iran is more pressing..Palestinians just don't get it.

[Jefferson23]

2. Abbas: Jordan talks 'revive hopes' of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations

Abbas' remarks come after an official confirms Israeli and Palestinian envoys clashed over the makeup of their delegations during their last meeting in Jordan.

By DPA

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that Jordan-brokered talks with Israel had "revived hopes" of restarting direct Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

"The Palestinian-Israeli encounters were exploratory meetings and not negotiations," Abbas told reporters after discussions with Jordanian King Abdullah II that focused on the outcome of four rounds of Palestinian-Israeli talks in Amman since January 3.

"The Jordanian move has revived hopes and put things on the right track so that Israel will have no pretext after that," he said.

Abbas said that he would "evaluate the situation with the king" in preparation for the February 4 meeting of the Arab follow-up committee to "decide the next step."

Abbas' remarks came after an official confirmed that Israeli and Palestinian envoys had clashed over the makeup of their delegations during their last meeting in Jordan.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat refused to enter the room where the talks were held Saturday, because the Israelis had unexpectedly brought along a security expert, said the official, who is close to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee.

Erekat, therefore, refused to hear the Israeli position on security in the presence of the expert, because that person was not an official member of the Israeli delegation and unauthorized to be there.

"They tried to introduce a security expert and it was not part of the exploratory talks," the official told DPA on condition of anonymity.

"We did not want to start any meeting with the presence of (people) who were not supposed to be in the meeting," he said.

The official said Israel had so far failed to submit its positions on the two negotiation issues of borders and security, despite an expectation it would do so in the second round of the Jordan talks.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/abbas-jordan-talks-revive-hopes-of-israeli-palestinian-negotiations-1.409206

[azurnoir]

3. Abbas meets Jordan's King Abdullah

The president said the next period would be one of evaluation and that a follow up committee would meet on Feb 4. to discuss progress.

The main obstacles to resuming negotiations are Israeli settlements, above all in Jerusalem, and settler violence against Palestinian communities, Abbas said.

Abbas also told the Jordanian King that Israel refuses to recognize the future borders of a Palestinian state. Recognition of the future Palestinian borders would be a key incentive for the Palestinians to return to negotiations, he added.

PLO official Hanna Amirah told reporters on Wednesday that the Palestinian leadership would not take a decision to extend negotiations with the Israeli side because the government of Benjamin Netanyahu "doesn’t seek at this stage to achieve any positive progress in the peace process with the Palestinian Authority."

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=455427