Move marks first time sides meet since direct talks broke down in September 2010 • Yitzhak Molcho to lead Israeli team, Saeb Erekat to head Palestinian delegation • Quartet envoys hope to convince sides to arrange direct meeting between Netanyahu, Abbas.
Shlomo Cesana, Daniel Siryoti, and The Associated Press
Israelis and Palestinians are scheduled to meet on Tuesday for the first peace talks in over a year, this time under Jordanian mediation.
The meeting will mark the first time the two sides have met for official talks since direct negotiations broke down in September 2010 because of a dispute over Israel's expansion of settlements in Judea and Samaria and east Jerusalem.
It also comes in the backdrop of progressing unity talks between Hamas and Fatah as well as repeated warnings by Israeli officials that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' overtures to Hamas have hurt chances for peace with Israel.Last month, the rival Palestinian factions took a significant step toward reconciliation as Hamas said it planned to join Western-backed Abbas' Palestinian Liberation Organization and both sides agreed to allow elections to go ahead in Gaza and the West Bank in 2012.
The move came despite calls by Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev not to grant Hamas legitimacy or recognition. "Hamas is not a political organization that conducts terrorism. Hamas is a murderous, genocidal terrorist organization to the core," Regev said.
Quartet representatives (the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia), which have tried repeatedly to resume negotiations, plan to use the meeting in Amman on Tuesday as an opportunity to convince the Palestinians to arrange, without preconditions, a direct meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu.
However, Palestinian sources told the Al Quds newspaper on Monday that the purpose of the Amman meeting is to allow Israel to present its position on the issues of borders and security arrangements, as the Quartet requested three months ago, according to Israel Radio.
The Palestinian sources told Al Quds that the PA had already presented its position on the said issues, but that Israel insisted on stating its positions only in the presence of Palestinian officials.
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Sunday that Israeli and Palestinian representatives are set to meet for direct talks in the framework of the Quartet's meetings with the negotiating teams of both sides. The Quartet has set a January 26 deadline for the resumption of talks.
"The upcoming meeting is part of serious and continuous efforts to reach a common ground to resume the direct negotiations," said Jordanian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammed Kayed.
Attorney Yitzhak Molcho, Netanyahu's special envoy for negotiations with the Palestinians, will lead the Israeli delegation for the meeting in Amman. In Ramallah, officials predicted on Sunday that chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat will head the Palestinian delegation, and will even hold a direct meeting with Molcho.
Senior officials from Abbas's office confirmed to Israel Hayom that efforts to rekindle talks will be conducted under the aegis of Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, who will host the meeting between the two negotiating teams.
Judeh is expected to hold a separate meeting with the Israelis and Palestinians, Kayed said.
Ahead of Tuesday's scheduled meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed the Quartet's initiative.
"We are hopeful that this direct exchange can help move us forward on the pathway proposed by the Quartet," she said in an official statement. "The status quo is not sustainable and the parties must act boldly to advance the cause of peace."
Following the Jordanian announcement of the meeting, Abbas told Palestinian media sources that if the Quartet is not able to forge a new peace plan by the end of the month, "the Palestinian leadership must meet and make a bold decision over the future of the Palestinian Authority."
Meanwhile, officials in Ramallah on Sunday stressed that the Palestinian leadership was not optimistic about Tuesday's meeting in Amman.
Ashraf al-Ajrami, a former PA minister, told Israel Radio on Monday that the Palestinians are not putting great weight on the meeting, and stressed that this will be the last attempt at resuming negotiations before the Quartet's initiative is declared a failure. He added that there was no point in negotiations so long as settlement construction continues.
Officials from Netanyahu's office also expressed doubt about the chances of reaching a breakthrough as "[Mahmoud Abbas] just isn't interested in peace because he is not interested in compromising," one official said.
Head of the National Information Directorate Yoaz Hendel issued a statement saying, nevertheless, "We are grateful to King Abdullah II and to Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh for their initiative in convening the sides in accordance with the Quartet outline."
In a more positive tone regarding the Amman meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor [Likud] on Monday called the move a "positive development" and expressed hope that it would lead to the resumption of negotiations.
Meridor told Israel Radio that he hoped the Palestinians would stop their unilateral moves in the international arena, adding that the conflict cannot be solved through U.N. resolutions.
The deputy prime minister also rejected the Palestinians' demand for a halt to settlement construction in east Jerusalem as a precondition for resuming negotiations.
The Amman meeting comes about six weeks after Jordan's King Abdullah II made a rare visit to the West Bank for talks with the Palestinians. Abdullah, who often serves as a mediator, hosted President Shimon Peres the following week.
In a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday in Ankara, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that "negotiations over the end of the conflict and Israeli occupation will only be made possible with Hamas's cooperation."
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