Livni and Erekat
Photo: Reuters
US: Israel, Palestinians seeking further meeting to resuscitate ailing negotiations
Negotiators from both sides met Sunday night with US special envoy Martin Indyk in 'serious and constructive' session.
Israel and the Palestinians have asked the US to organize a further meeting Monday in an effort to prevent the collapse of peace talks, the State Department said, calling a Sunday night session "serious and constructive."
Negotiators from the two sides met Sunday night "to discuss ways to overcome the crisis in the talks," an US source said earlier Monday.
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An Israeli official described the Sunday session as "business-like" without elaborating. A Palestinian official said his side had submitted conditions for extending the talks beyond the original April 29 deadline for a peace deal. Another Palestinian official noted the meeting lasted six hours.
"The Palestinian leadership has opened the door to serious negotiations until the 29th of this month," when the nine months allocated to the talks ends, Palestinian negotiator Mohammad Shtayyeh said in a press conference in Ramallah.
Hamas meanwhile condemned "the continuation of meetings with the Israeli enemy under US mediation."
The US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians appeared to be on the verge of collapse after Israel refused to honor a commitment to release a fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded by very publicly going back on a pledge not to turn to the international community to seek recognition of a Palestinian state.
The two sides' chief negotiators met Sunday night along with US special envoy Martin Indyk, days after US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed impatience with both sides, saying the US would re-evaluate its mediator role.
