{{Israeli and Palestinian teams are heading to Washington for preliminary talks toward a formal re-opening of negotiations after years of stalemate, but both sides are emphasizing that many obstacles stand between them and a final deal.}}
Israel’s chief negotiator Tzipi Livni said early Monday as she left for Washington that talks will be complex and that she was leaving “cautiously but also with hope.”
Palestinian negotiators also departed after the Israeli cabinet acceded to Palestinian demands and agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have been jailed for decades.
A statement issued on Sunday by the US State Department said that secretary of state John Kerry spoke to both Israeli and Palestinian leaders and “personally extended an invitation to send senior negotiating teams to Washington to formally resume direct final status negotiations.”
These meetings “will serve as an opportunity to develop a procedural workplan for how the parties can proceed with the negotiations in the coming months,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement on Sunday.
aljazeera
Leave a Reply