Indyk to Meet Israeli and Palestinian Negotiators Separately

US Envoy Martin Indyk is scheduled to meet with both Israel and Palestinian negotiating teams separately Friday. Reports from Thursday’s meeting claim to have not yielded results.

A Palestinian source reported following the meeting Thursday that “no breakthrough was made” adding that the “gap is still wide and very difficult decisions took place.”

Israeli MK’s who met with Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas reported that Abbas would be willing to extend peace talks an additional nine months, the deadline for talks less than two weeks away.

Negotiating teams are faced with the issue of borders and security. Palestinians are demanding for a settlement freeze. Israel is being pressed to release the fourth phase of Palestinian prisoners, 14 of which are Arab-Israelis. The Palestinians also refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

An Israeli official stated on this issue that the Palestinians ““want to talk about the core issues good for them (settlements and borders), but they refuse to be willing to discuss the core issues in which they will have to show flexibility: recognizing Israel’s legitimacy as the nation-state of the Jewish people, the issue of refugees, ending the conflict, security.”

Amir Tsarfati is the founder and president of Behold Israel, a news site to correct the scarcity in trustworthy reportage on issues and events impacting Israel, and to resolve the uncertainty about who or what to believe.

Photo credit: U.S. State Department – Flickr (Creative Commons)