Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams met on Monday in an effort to resume peace talks, local daily Jerusalem Post reported on its website.
Ahmed Qurei, chief Palestinian negotiator, said he downgraded the meeting to unofficial as a protest against the Israeli construction plans.
Prior to the meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said during a joint press conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Israel would continue to build homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, calling Har Homa an "inseparable" part of Jerusalem.
"We completely reject the building, not only one room, but also one brick in any of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem," Qurei was quoted as saying.
Only Qurei and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni attended the two-hour meeting, Livni's spokesman Arye Mekel said.
Earlier Monday, Livni had said that the war on terror would not put peace negotiations on hold, according to Jerusalem Post.
"Whoever claims that we must cease negotiations should be straight with themselves and explain how that would end terror," the foreign minister said during a Knesset (parliament) debate over a no-confidence motion proposed by an Israeli party Yisrael Beiteinu.
However, she stressed that negotiations would not deter action against terror.
"Since the Palestinian government has no ability to control what takes place in Gaza, it is obligated to let Israel act to defend its citizens," the foreign minister said.
The negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians were launched at a U.S.-hosted peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland last November.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas temporarily suspended the negotiations earlier this month after an Israeli offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip killed more than 120 Palestinians.
However, Israel said the incursion was meant to counter rocket attacks by Palestinian militants from the coastal enclave.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article