Palestine, Israel resume talks: US

The Israeli and Palestinian authority representatives have reached an agreement to continue negotiations in the coming months, the US State Department says.

“The talks will serve as an opportunity to develop a procedural work plan for how the parties can proceed with the negotiations in the coming months,” said the US State Department in a statement released on Monday.

On the same day, former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, who was designated by US Secretary of State John Kerry as the lead negotiator for Israeli-Palestinian talks, presided over the preliminary talks in Washington. The talks are scheduled to continue on Tuesday.

The Palestinian delegation is led by chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, while Justice Minister Tzipi Livni represents the Israeli side.

Major topics on the agenda include the future of Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank, the status of al-Quds (Jerusalem), and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Meanwhile, several Palestinian factions, including Hamas resistance movement and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), have condemned the resumption of talks.

“The PFLP is against a return to negotiations,” said one of the PFLP leaders, Khaleda Jarar, adding, “It is an individual move.”

Hundreds of Palestinians also took to the streets of Ramallah and Gaza on Sunday to protest against acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to restart talks with the Israeli regime.

Last Palestinian-Israeli talks were halted in September 2010 after Tel Aviv refused to freeze its settlement activities in the West Bank.

Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the Palestinian territories occupied in the Six-Day War of 1967.

Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.

IA/AS