Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks Resume in U.S.

Palestinian and Israeli negotiators started a new round of talks in the United States on April 7 against a backdrop of an Egyptian warning that Israel must agree to a Palestinian state in order to have real peace. The negotiators convened at Bolling Air Force base in southeast Washington on Friday morning, with American mediators ready to intervene later in the day to push for an agreement that has eluded the two sides.

They also met for dinner Thursday evening at the base, which is screened off from the public and news media. The middle-level negotiating teams, led by Yasser Abed Rabbo for the Palestinians and Oded Eran for Israel, are unlikely to reach an agreement without more talks between their leaders, diplomats here said.

"No single round of talks can be expected to solve all the complex core issues between Israelis and Palestinians," said spokesman Mark Regev of the Israeli Embassy in the United States. "This round must be seen as another link in a process towards reaching a framework agreement by May," Regev added. The framework agreement is meant as a step toward a comprehensive agreement by September 13 covering all the so-called final status issues such as the size and status of the Palestinian territories, Jerusalem, water rights, the fate of Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. The same negotiators met at Bolling for one week last month without any evidence of either progress or deadlock. On Thursday, Egypt told Israel that it could not expect a warm peace unless it consented to a Palestinian state and "dealt with Jerusalem."

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