A committee of Israeli government ministers released a list of Palestinian prisoners to be freed by Israel in advance of the first round of peace negotiations.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that Israel\’s announcement of new settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem \”were to some degree expected,\” and urged Israelis and Palestinians to move head with peace talks due to resume this week.
Israel and the Palestinians remain far apart over terms of any peace deal, officials from both sides made clear on Wednesday, a day after talks resumed in Washington for the first time in nearly three years.
Talks between Palestinians and Israelis will resume on Monday evening, the first such formal deliberations in almost three years.
An Israeli cabinet minister said on Thursday that U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations with the Palestinians could begin next week.
U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge him to resume negotiations with the Palestinians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\’s spokesman denied on Thursday Israel had agreed to a formula for new talks with Palestinians based on the border of their future state being drawn along lines from before a 1967 war, with agreed land swaps.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders are both committed to reviving peace talks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday, but he acknowledged that progress on the long-stalled negotiations would be difficult.
There is no alternative to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Bill Clinton said at an event to honor Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, has reportedly refused to accept the 1967 border as the basis for a final Israeli-Palestinian border prior to negotiations.
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