Senior officials from Israel and the Palestinian Authority met in Jordan for the first time in more than a year and agreed to hold further preliminary talks as part of an effort to restart formal peace talks between the two sides. “We do not want to raise our expectations at this stage, but we also do not want to underestimate the importance of the meeting, which gathered the Palestinians and the Israelis face to face,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told a press conference in Amman. Future talks would also be held in Amman, Judeh added. The two sides would meet again this Friday, US State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a media briefing in Washington.
The first get-together between Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat and his Israeli counterpart, Yitzhak Molcho, since the breakdown of talks in September 2010 was arranged by the International Quartet for the Middle East Peace Process, with help from Jordan’s King Abdullah. However, a major obstacle for formal talks is the Palestinian demand for a halt to all Israeli construction in the West Bank. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told reporters that he was considering taking “harsh” actions if the talks with Israel do not lead to a settlement freeze by 26 January, which is the date set by the Quartet for the two sides to submit proposals on security arrangements and a final border between them.
Officials from both Abbas’ Fatah movement and Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, criticized the meetings in Amman. They complained that Israel had come "empty handed" and said the talks were a "waste of time."
