Israel, Palestine hold fifth meeting

Palestinian and Israeli parties held the fifth meeting in Amman on Wednesday, in attempts to resume negotiations and resolve pending issues under the auspices of Jordan and EU. The meeting is to be attended by Palestinian senior negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molcho. Member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Hanna Amira, said that the PA leadership would not make any decisions regarding extending negotiations with Israel, stating that Netanyahu’s cabinet did not intend to make any progress over negotiations and peace process with the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian sources reported that scheduled meeting between Erekat and Molcho would be the last one. They indicated that huge pressure was being exerted on the International Middle East Quartet (consisting of the US, UK, EU and Russia) in order to resume negotiations. Palestinian officials said that a series of PA meetings are to be held in the Palestinian Territories and in Egypt later on, after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas returned to Ramallah. Meanwhile, the follow-up committee of the Arab Peace Initiative will discuss the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks on January 29. The Palestinian Authority has threatened that it would take action after January 26 if the meetings in Amman broke down. Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Wednesday that informal talks between Israel and the Palestinians must continue and eventually turn into “genuine” negotiations. “I am a realist about where we are but I am a passionate believer that we need to keep talks going and increase the potential of these talks to become genuine negotiations,” she told reporters in Gaza City. Ashton arrived in Gaza on Tuesday for a three-day visit to the region and said the purpose of her trip was to “keep things moving” as a series of informal talks between negotiators from the two sides appeared on the brink of collapse. “The reason I am here in this region is not a coincidence, it is because I wanted to meet with the Israelis and with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas who I met also last week in Berlin,” she explained. The EU’s top diplomat was to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening before heading to Amman where she was to meet with Abbas on Thursday.