The Palestinian and Israeli negotiation teams, tasked with hammering out a joint document to be presented at a U.S.-sponsored peace gathering, still diverged on three key issues regarding the document, well-informed Palestinian sources said Wednesday.
The much-touted peace conference is expected to be held in Annapolis in the U.S. later this month.
The two teams, which were set up in early October, would only draw up the joint declaration of principles if they agree on three main issues, said the sources.
According to the sources, adopting a timetable for the negotiation process between the two sides was the main and first concern for the Palestinians. The Palestinian side intends to start negotiations right after the Annapolis peace parley.
The Palestinians also want to make the peace plans, especially the roadmap plan and the Arab Peace Initiative, as the bases of future negotiations. And the future talks should clearly determine the final-status issues, which include control over Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and borders of the future Palestinian state.
The roadmap plan, known for its vision of two-state solution, was declared in 2002 by U.S. President George W. Bush who called for creating a viable and democratic Palestinian statehood alongside Israel which should be secured.
The International Quartet -- the U.S., the EU, Russia and the UN -- is the four entities that sponsor the implantation of the plan. But the plan stopped in 2003 due to violence between Israel and Palestinian militant groups.
The Arab Peace Initiative, which was first approved in 2002 and reactivated during the 19th Arab summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in March this year, offers to extend recognition to Israel by all Arab countries provided that it withdraws from all Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 war, including East Jerusalem and Syria's Golan Heights.
The third issue was "the need for a practical commitment of the roadmap plan and the formation of an Israeli, Palestinian and American committee to follow up the implementation of the plan's first phase," said the sources.
The first phase of the roadmap plan calls on the Palestinians to crack down on militants while demanding that Israel halt Jewish settlement activity and uproot illegal outposts.
According to the sources, the two negotiation teams have not yet reached an agreement on the three issues.
Source: Xinhua
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