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Sunday, 28 July 2013
The recently resuscitated momentum toward Mideast peace talks has picked up even more steam, with the U.S. State Department announcing Sunday afternoon that initial meetings are planned for Monday night, in addition to previously anticipated meetings on Tuesday.
The Israelis will be
represented by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Molcho, and the
Palestinians will be represented by Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat and
Mohammad Shtayyeh, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a
statement, which said the prinicpals would "formally resume direct final
status negotiations. "
Ahead of the talks, the
Israeli government on Sunday approved freeing 104 Palestinian prisoners,
despite popular sentiment against such a release.
Before his weekly Cabinet
meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged his government to vote
in favor of the prisoner release, despite reservations.
"This moment is not easy
for me. It is not easy for the ministers," he said. "It is not easy
especially for the families, the bereaved families, whose heart I
understand. But there are moments in which tough decisions must be made
for the good of the country, and this is one of those moments."
The measure passed 14-6 with two abstentions
Also at Sunday's meeting,
the Cabinet approved the opening of diplomatic negotiations with the
Palestinians and authorized a team headed by Netanyahu and four other
top ministers to run the prisoner release.
The votes were designed to build confidence and help kick-start the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The first of four waves of releases is slated to come after the negotiations get under way.
Read more: Israelis, Palestinians to resume talks
Some observers see
recent displays of goodwill, such as this vote, as signs that the
upcoming round of peace talks could prove fruitful.
Comments by top diplomats have sparked hopes as well.
U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry reiterated his praise for Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas in Sunday's statement, saying, "Both leaders
have demonstrated a willingness to make difficult decisions that have
been instrumental in getting to this point. We are grateful for their
leadership."
But it's not just in the
hands of politicians. The Israeli Cabinet approved a measure stating
that any agreement with the Palestinians will be submitted to the
Israeli people for a vote.
Also Sunday, Palestinian
police in Ramallah, West Bank, clashed with marchers protesting the
resumption of negotiations with Israel.
The protesters said the
talks indicate a "willingness to concede, against the position of the
Palestinian national consensus and even the decisions of the PLO
institutions themselves" and called the planned talks "deeply dangerous
to the Palestinian national cause," said the Addameer Prisoner Support
and Human Rights Association, a Jerusalem-based Palestinian
nongovermental organization.
And Hamas, which governs
the Palestinian territory of Gaza, said in a statement that it "rejects
the Palestinian Authority return to peace talks with the Israeli
occupation authorities."
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