Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to hold a second round of talks US State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland announced on Saturday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to hold a second round of talks, set to take place on Monday in Amman. The initial meeting last Tuesday was the first direct high-level dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians for a year.
Nuland said the upcoming meeting will be at the same level of Tuesday meeting, as the Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said "The talks and atmosphere were positive," referring to Tuesday meeting. He announced in a press conference after the meeting that from here on the sides would keep details of the meetings secret. That could boost the chances of progress by easing immediate pressure from Israeli or Palestinian public opinion not to make concessions.
Meanwhile, Fatah defended the decision of its head, Mahmoud Abbas to resume Israeli-Palestinian meetings.
Speaking at the celebration of the 47 anniversary of Fatah movement in Jericho, Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat said “PLO had stated that, it will never back to the negotiations until Israel stops the settlements and accepts the two-state solution, but Amman meetings is to “find out” the possibility of resuming the negotiations.”
Israeli and Palestinian officials met, last Tuesday, for the first time in more than a year and agreed to hold further preliminary talks in Jordan as part of an effort to renew formal peace negotiations.
The meeting was arranged by The Quartet of Middle East mediators, the United States, European Union, Russia, with help from Jordan’s King Abdullah, while it made no breakthrough.
Tuesday's meeting aimed at agreeing terms under which the two sides' leaders – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – could resume talks. Negotiations foundered in late 2010 after Israel refused to renew a partial freeze on Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, as demanded by the Palestinians.
On the other hand, the meeting raised controversy between Hamas senior officials, as Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal described it as “diligence” from the Palestinian Authority, while Hamas leaders in Gaza strongly criticized it.
Mashaal said “this is a diligence of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, but we believe that Israel-Palestinian talks destined for failure.”