Negotiators from Israel and the Palestinian National Authority
(PNA) ended their first meeting of peace negotiations on Wednesday
with little progress but an agreement about a next meeting.
Aryeh Mekel, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said
that during the meeting, the Palestinian side raised the issues of
Israel's recent plan of expanding an East Jerusalem settlement and
Israeli army's Tuesday military operation in Gaza, while the
Israeli side raised its security concern following the Qassam
rocket barrage against southern Israeli communities on Wednesday
morning.
Mekel said during the one hour meeting, the two sides, headed by
former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei and Israeli Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni respectively, mainly exchanged their views,
and agreed to meet again in about two weeks.
Israel and the PNA on Wednesday formally kicked off a new round
of bilateral peace talks with the aim of reaching a permanent deal
by the end of 2008.
The meeting was kept on a low-profile, as the originally
scheduled photo opportunity for the media was canceled due to
Palestinian protest against the latest Israeli military offensive
in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged on Monday that he
would take advantage of the opportunity created by the Annapolis
summit to reach a historic breakthrough with the Palestinians.
Addressing a business conference in Tel Aviv, the prime minister
said the opportunity to make peace with Palestinians had many
uncertain components, risks and dangers, but "it is impossible to
ignore them."
However, the new round of peace efforts went into trouble even
before it started, as Palestinians said Israel's recent plan of
settlement expansion and the latest military operation in Gaza
could endanger the peace process.
Israel launched a day-long large-scale incursion into Gaza,
during which eight Palestinian militants were killed. Seeking
revenge for the Israeli offensive, Palestinian militants in Gaza
launched about 20 Qassam rockets into southern Israel on Wednesday
morning, lightly wounding an Israeli resident.
In light of the Qassam attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert convened the security cabinet, and instructed the army to
continue carrying out pinpoint military operation inside Gaza,
instead of launching a large-scale incursion into the coastal
strip.
The Palestinians, however, doubted Israel's intention by
carrying out the operation just one day before the
negotiations.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas, on Tuesday accused Israel of trying to thwart
final-status negotiations before they could be started on
Wednesday.
"The Israeli government's determination to continue the
offensives, assassinations and expanding settlements boosts the
doubts about the Israeli intentions regarding the negotiations,"
the spokesman told reporters.
"It is difficult to go on with the negotiation process under the
assassinations, deliberate killing, land confiscation and other
procedures that don't suit the spirit of the peace process," he
added.
Meanwhile, the dispute Har Homa settlement expansion also
overshadowed Wednesday's talks.
On Dec. 2, Israel Land Administration published tenders for
building 307 new housing units in the settlement of Har Homa, which
the Palestinians call Jabal Abu Ghuneim.
The plan has drawn wide criticism from the Palestinians, Arab
states, European countries and even the United States.
(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2007)
