Efforts to renew talks with Palestinians resume

Contacts resume despite Monday's murder by a gunman of Baruch Mizrahi near Hebron.

Efforts to renew negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians resuming today, after the Passover holiday, despite Monday's murder by a gunman of Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi, senior police intelligence and crime officer, outside Hebron.

Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni, who is responsible for the negotiations, will meet Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and US mediator Martin Indyk to try and draw up a proposal for renewing the peace talks and extend the April 29 deadline.

Livni, Erekat, and Indyk will also discuss the fourth release of Palestinian prisoners, including Israeli Arabs, the Palestinians withdrawing their application to join UN conventions, and the release by the US of Jonathan Pollard, who has been in jail for almost 30 years, after being convicted of espionage for Israel.

The talks about talks are also taking place amid Minister of the Economy Naftali Bennett's threats to quit the government if Israeli Arab prisoners are released. "The whole faction is behind the decision that the time has come to draw a line against the release of terrorists," he said last week.

In a separate development, a delegation of MKs will meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu-Mazen) today to discuss the crisis in the peace talks and possible options. The delegation includes MK Eliezer Stern (Hatnua), Labor MKs Michal Biran, Nachman Shai, and Omer Barlev; Meretz MKs Tamar Zandberg and Nitzan Horowitz; and Shas MK Yitzhak Cohen.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 16, 2014

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018