Israeli and Palestinian negotiators launched peace talks at a Ramadan break-fast dinner at the US State Department in Washington DC on Monday night. Attending the iftar dinner were US Secretary of State John Kerry, Martin Indyk, the newly appointed US Middle East peace negotiator, Tzipi Livni, Israel's justice minister, Yitzhak Molcho, a longtime adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saeb Erekat, the top Palestinian negotiator, and Mohammed Shtayyeh, a Palestinian economist.
The talks, which were to continue on Tuesday morning, are the first since late 2010 and come after intense lobbying of the sides by Kerry.
Livni said on Israeli radio on Tuesday that Israel did not have the option of conceding defeat on a permanent peace agreement with the Palestinians, and that such an agreement was in fact possible. She called the atmosphere at the dinner "positive" but refused to elaborate further on the content of the first meeting, saying that there had been a decision to keep what was said behind closed doors. "This is part and parcel of creating mutual trust between [us and the Palestinians]," Livni was quoted by the 'Jerusalem Post' as saying.
