BICOM

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel’s chief envoy to peace talks, met behind closed doors yesterday morning with Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator Saeb Erekat at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel. The Israeli and Palestinians officials met again later in the day for a second meeting, which took place at an undisclosed location in Jerusalem and included Washington’s envoy to the talks Martin Indyk, according to newswire reports this morning.

Details of the discussions were not revealed, following a request from Washington last week for a strict news blackout, but at the end of talks Tuesday the participants agreed to meet again “soon.” Livni, speaking on Israel Radio before talks convened in Jerusalem, said, “there will be dramatic decisions” by Israel at the end of the negotiating process. She said that in the meantime, both sides had agreed not to disclose details about their deliberations to build trust. “We are arguing, but we are arguing inside the room,” she said.

The meetings took place just six days after Israeli and Palestinian negotiators formally resumed direct peace talks after a hiatus of nearly three years, thanks to an intense bout of shuttle diplomacy by US Secretary of State John Kerry. The latest bout of talks were scheduled to take place in the West Bank city of Jericho today, but were pulled forward due to a planned visit by Saeb Erakat to Russia.

Tuesday’s round of peace talks came on the heels of an earlier round of discussions held quietly last week at an undisclosed Jerusalem location between Livni and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aide Yitzhak Molcho on one side and Erekat and PA President Mahmoud Abbas adviser Mohammed Shtayyeh on the other. Last week, the sides met for nearly five hours, and the meeting was described as “serious” by sources close to the talks.

Also on Tuesday PA President Mahmoud Abbas met with a delegation of the Israeli Hadash party, headed by MK Mohammad Barakeh. At the meeting, Abbas said that there should be no “stacking of obstacles” in the form of increased settlement construction ahead of negotiations. Barakeh said after the meeting that Abbas believes he can sign an agreement which would end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that he can get such an agreement approved by a public referendum.