By Xinhua
Jerusalem : During their first talks to tackle the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, negotiating teams from both sides on Monday decided to meet again soon and keep negotiations away from the spotlights, local media reported.
The decision was made after Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and head of the Palestinian negotiating team Ahmed Qurei ended their meeting of two and a half hours in Jerusalem, during which the two sides discussed the core issues over Jerusalem, WestBank settlements, Palestinian refugees and the borders.
Livni and Qurei decided to conduct future meetings under a low media profile, according to the reports.
Before Monday’s meeting, Livni said that “past experience proves that discussions held in front of cameras cause increasingly extreme stances, the twisting of statements, rising expectations, disappointments and eventually violence.”
“If I have to choose between dramatic daily headlines and results, I choose results,” she added.
In addition to core issues, the two also discussed increasing tension between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman who is said to be planning on quitting the government coalition over the negotiations on core issues.
The meeting was held Monday morning at a Jerusalem hotel.
Last week, before U.S. President George W. Bush started his Mideast tour to try to propel negotiations forward, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Olmert instructed their negotiators to start discussing the core issues.
Bush, who will leave the White House in January of 2009, said during his ongoing visit to the region that Israel and the Palestinians would reach an agreement by the end of 2008, as they had agreed to do at the U.S.-host Annapolis peace conference in November.