BICOM

Israel’s Justice Minister and lead peace negotiator Tzipi Livni held meetings yesterday in London with both Foreign Minister William Hague and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

It was the first time that Livni had met with either leader since the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) were suspended last month. The nine-month negotiations, which had been spearheaded by Kerry, ended without an agreement. Just days before the talks’ deadline PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction agreed to form a unity government with Hamas, which remains dedicated to Israel’s destruction, prompting Israel to suspend the negotiations.

Despite the impasse, Hague and Livni discussed the peace process and Hague said via social media that the “opportunity for peace must be seized” by both sides. Livni and Kerry were both visiting London for separate purposes, but also met yesterday for what the US State Department called “an opportunity for them to catch up since the pause in the negotiations.” A US official said that Kerry asked “both sides to refrain from unhelpful steps” and that, “While the door remains open to peace, the parties must determine whether they are willing to take the steps necessary to resume negotiations.” Kerry’s determined efforts were largely responsible for last summer’s resumption of peace talks between Israel and the PA.

On Wednesday, Kerry also met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in London and according to media reports, Kerry stressed that any Palestinian government must renounce terror, recognise Israel and adhere to previous agreements with Israel.

Also yesterday, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel met with his Israeli counterpart Moshe Ya’alon in Tel Aviv. Kerry described Hagel as a “great friend” to Israel and emphasised the close security cooperation and “most basic values of democracy, freedom and liberty” shared between the two countries. Responding to a Newsweek report which this week alleged Israel had spied on the United States during the 1990s, Hagel said “I’m not aware of any facts that would substantiate the report.”