Posted on 07/19/2013 2:45:19 PM PDT by Eleutheria5
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Friday the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
"I'm pleased to announce that we've reached an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis," Kerry told reporters in Amman, Jordan, according to AFP.
"This is a significant and welcome step forward, he added. The agreement is still in the process of being finalized so we are absolutely not going to talk about any of the elements now."
The top U.S. diplomat added that PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli negotiator Justice Minister Tzipi Livni would meet him in Washington "to begin initial talks within the next week or so."
In his brief comments to the press, Kerry praised the courage of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
"No one believes the long-standing differences between the parties will be resolved overnight or just wiped away. We know that the challenges require some very tough choices in the days ahead," he said, according to AFP.
"Today, however, I am hopeful. I am hopeful because of the courageous leadership by President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Both of them have chosen to make difficult choices here and both of them were instrumental."
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(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
Yeah, that’ll work......: )
Winds must of died down
Someone tell Kerry that the Nobel Peace Prize is in the bag so he can go away
Wasn’t Kerry in the Middle-East in 68 at Christmas time?
Kerry is hoping to capture that Nobel prize for doing absolutely nothing that Obama got his first year on office.
Let’s see, PA wants all the Jews dead, Israel won’t agree. Negotiations break down.
who let him off his boat
So what’s up with Teresa? I see they moved her to a rehab hospital.
“Piss” in our time.
What’s this, the 45th year of “piss talks”?
Who knew the frankenstien monster was about peace
Somewhere I heard that Kerry fought in Vietnam.
:) He can taste it; it is so pathetic.
Oh thank God! Another significant step forward. Like we haven’t heard that before.
While the State Department is in shambles
No one gets the Palistinians to the table without a large payoff. How much did Kerry promise this time?
Elements courtesy DEBKA:
After substantially lowering his expectations, US Secretary of State John Kerry was able to save his mission to restart peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians with only moments to spare before his sixth round of shuttle diplomacy crashed. Friday night, July 19, Kerry announced in Amman that initial talks would resume in Washington very soon.
In this exclusive report, debkafile discloses for the first time details of the formula for which Kerry obtained the consent of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and, after an unscheduled side trip Friday to Ramallah, of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas as well.
According to the Kerry formula, the forthcoming negotiations would focus on attaining an interim peace accord - without determining final borders - for establishing a Palestinian state in broad areas of the West Bank from which Israeli would withdraw.
Those areas would be subject to trilateral US-Israeli-Palestinian consensus on security arrangements and require some Jewish settlements to be removed.
Initial negotiations will start next week in Washington behind closed doors. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and the prime ministers adviser Yakov Molcho will represent Israel and senior negotiator Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian side. A third US team will report to John Kerry.
It was also agreed, according to this exclusive debkafile report, that the negotiating process would last no less than nine months up until March 2014, during which Israel agreed to an undeclared partial standstill on construction in Judea and Samaria outside the settlement blocs - except for building to accommodate natural growth.
The freeze would not apply to the West Bank settlement blocs or Jerusalem.
The Palestinian leader dropped his stipulation for a total construction freeze. He also promised not to carry out his threat to push anti-Israeli measures through UN and other international institutions during the talks.
The US Secretary also persuaded Abbas Friday to waive his ultimatum for peace talks to be based on 1967 borders. Instead, President Barack Obama will send him a letter affirming US recognition that the object of the negotiations is to establish a Palestinian state as the national home of the Palestinian people whose borders will be based on 1967 lines.
Obama will send another letter to Netanyahu affirming that the negotiations must lead to the recognition of the state of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people, whose future borders will be based on the 1967 lines while also accommodating Israels security needs and its realistic demographic circumstances.
The talks will proceed on two levels: The Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams in Washington, who will defer to their principals, Binyamin Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas and John Kerry. Those three will only meet for direct talks when the teams have tangible results in the bag.
Before leaving Amman, the US Secretary said cautiously: The agreement is still in the process of being formalized."
Like I said in another thread. Having Kerry on his boat and not in the Middle East really IS damage control.
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