By Xinhua
Ramallah : Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Quriea said Wednesday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed to resume peace talks after the upcoming major Moslem and Christian holidays.
The Moslems’ holiday of Eid al-Adha is expected on Dec. 19, and Christmas in Bethlehem will be celebrated on Dec. 24.
Quriea, better known as “Abu Alla”, told reporters that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held their first session of negotiations on Wednesday “according to what had been agreed upon in Annapolis peace conference.”
“The question of settlement expansion and the Israeli measures of siege, incursions and assassinations were the main topics discussed in today’s meeting,” Quriea told reporters after the talks.
Quriea stressed that the session has mainly focused on the Israeli decision to build up 307 housing units into the settlement of Har Homa, or Jabal Abu Ghuneim in between east Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
“We told the Israelis that they should be strictly committed to the text of the first phase of the U.S.-brokered ‘roadmap’ plan, which explicitly demands stopping completely all settlement activities,” said Quriea.
He added “we told our Israeli counterparts that the settlement activities in the West Bank and the Israeli measures of siege, incursions and killings in Gaza are stumble rocks against reaching real peace between the two peoples.”
“We also told the Israeli side that it will be very complicated to mix between peace talks and peace process on one hand, with settlements, incursions, sieges and assassinations on the other,” said Quriea.
Israel launched a day-long large-scale incursion into Gaza on Tuesday, during which eight Palestinian militants were killed.
In response to the Israeli offensive, Palestinian militants in Gaza launched about 20 Qassam rockets into southern Israel on Wednesday morning, lightly wounding an Israeli resident.
The Israeli daily Ha’aretz quoted sources closed to the talks as describing Wednesday’s session as “very difficult and tense.”
The sources added that the arguments between the two teams “focused on the settlements activities in the West bank and the implementation of the roadmap first chapter.”