Jordan: Palestinian-Israeli Meetings

A Palestinian-Israeli meeting is held in Amman A Palestinian-Israeli meeting is held in Amman, Jordan, today, with the presence of the Quartet to start peace negotiations. Another meeting is held between the two sides to be their first face-to-face meeting in over a year.
Muhammad Al- Kayed, the spokesperson of the Jordanian Foreign Ministry has stated that the meetings aim at finding a common ground for carrying on direct negotiations to achieve a peace agreement and implement the two-state solution.
Al-Kayed said that the meeting is “based on the outcomes of the multiple meetings held by the envoys of the Quartet with the two parties since the last statement issued by the Quartet on September 23, 2011. "
According to the spokesman, the meeting aims at resuming peace talks to find solutions for all issues by the deadline set by the Quartet, the end of 2012, in accordance with the principles of the statements of the Quartet, with all of the references contained.
He declare that Foreign Minister, Nasser Judeh has contacted both Palestinians and the Israeli sides; in addition to the members of the Quartet, represented by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki moon; Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov; Hillary Clinton, United States Secretary of State; Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs for and the High Affairs and Security Policy; Quartet envoy, Tony Blair; Nabil el-Arabi, the Secretary-General of the Arab League and Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim, Foreign and Prime Minister of Qatar and the Chairman of the Arab peace initiative, as well as, a number of Arab Foreign Ministers. "
Amman meeting is part of the intensive action in anticipation of the 26th of this month, which ends the time limit of ninety days set by the Quartet, which includes the United States, the EU, Russia and the United Nations, for talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis about borders and security.
Palestinian leaders are to arrive in Amman to help strengthen the Palestinian position, and hold consultation with President Mahmoud Abbas. He meets Nayef Hawatmeh, the Secretary General of the Democratic Front, who arrives from Damascus.
After Hamas has considered the meeting a waste of time, the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood denounced the official support for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations held in Jordan. In a press statement issued today, the group raised questions about reassurances of the Right of Return and the two-state solution, as well as the stand on reconciliation.
 On the other hand, The United States has welcomed the Jordanian initiative."We welcome and support this positive development,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said In a statement issued in Washington last night, “We are hopeful that this direct exchange can help move us forward on the pathway proposed by the Quartet”
A Palestinian official stressed that the bilateral meeting aims at fining "appropriate ground" to resume negotiations and does not mean their actual resumption.
"Contacts with the Israeli side are ongoing. On a daily basis we discuss various economic and security issues. The political issue is standstill, however. This meeting, with the presence of the Quartet is to find appropriate grounds to launch the peace process ".Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a press Conference in Ramallah, the West Bank.
Erekat expressed his hope that the Israeli government will agree to the Jordanian preposition of settlement halt,‎ including the city of Jerusalem, as well as, defining the two countries border of 1967.
"We are making every possible effort to resume negotiations that we were not, on any day, against. We hope the Israeli government is aware of the importance of the Jordanian preposition and start immediately to fulfill its commitments."
He added, "If the Israeli government insisted on continuing the settlement acts, that would be a challenge to the world. The political negotiations require settlement halt and to accept the two-state solution."
Erekat is to represent the Palestinian delegation during the meeting, which also includes Yitzhak Molcho adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, delegates of the Quartet, along with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.
The Israeli public radio quoted political sources as saying that the two Amman meetings “are considered a positive development for the ones seeking the achieving of peace."
Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, said, that the resumption of contacts with Palestinians during the meeting to be held in Amman, "involves great significance even if did not result in tangible progress."
According to the Israeli radio, Barak stated that the resumption of these connections stand in benefit to Israel because other alternatives are worse. He added that Israel must show the true intentions to work for it, which will also contribute to hindering the attempts made to isolate his country politically and internationally.
He declared his belief that the solution of the two states for two peoples is the best resolution for the conflict