BICOM

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said yesterday that the second round of Israeli and Palestinian talks were “open and frank” despite differences between the two parties, and that both sides discussed important issues. The Jordanian Foreign Ministry, the only party authorised to make public statements about the meetings, added that the talks would continue as agreed.

In coordination with the Quartet, the Jordanians have invited the parties to a third round of talks before the end of January. Immediately after the first meeting last week, the Jordanians announced that another meeting had been scheduled, thereby creating a sense of momentum. In a similar fashion, after the second meeting on Monday, a third meeting was announced for next week.

Haaretz this morning reports that following a request from US and Jordanian authorities, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering the implementation of several confidence-building measures towards the Palestinians. In return, Netanyahu would expect Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to continue talks with the Israeli envoy Yitzhak Molcho and to refrain from any efforts to pursue Palestinian statehood at the UN.

The meeting between Molcho and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was the second in a week and lasted more than three hours. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and representatives of the Quartet also attended the meeting.

In related news, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said yesterday that Abbas will lose out if he cooperates with Israel on peace talks rather than focus on Palestinian reconciliation with Hamas. In an interview with Reuters from his office in the Gaza Strip, Zahar said that the rise of Islamism in the Arab world will strengthen the support for Hamas among the Palestinian people. He added that Hamas was not willing to give up the fight against Israel and denied reports that Hamas’s leader in Damascus, Khaled Meshaal, endorsed Abbas’s plan for non-violent resistance against Israel. “Popular resistance includes both Fatah agenda, which speaks of protests only, and the Hamas position which advocates gathering all means of military armament for the sake of self-defence,” Zahar said.