By DPA
Jerusalem : The top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met Monday, resuming talks stalled since an Israeli military incursion into the Gaza Strip last month.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia in Jerusalem for about two hours in the late afternoon, said Aryeh Mekel, a spokesman for the ministry.
In accordance with an agreement between the sides, he would not divulge information other than to say there was progress made on “core issues”.
The core issues generally refer to the final borders of a future Palestinian state, Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees.
Mekel also said that while the two leaders had not met since the talks were stopped, lower level technical teams from both sides had met to discuss non-core issues.
Commenting on reports that the Palestinians had expressed upset over Israeli plans to continue building in settlements in East Jerusalem and large settlement blocks in the West Bank, Mekel said Israel, too, was unhappy with the Palestinian Authority’s inability to curb attacks against Israelis – but the talks would go on.
Earlier, Livni told the Israeli Knesset (parliament) that she would continue the negotiations, and said terror attacks would not lead her to walk away from the table.
Eight Israelis were killed in a recent shooting in Jerusalem perpetrated by a Palestinian man, shortly after some 110 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza operation.
Meanwhile, the Israeli foreign ministry said that the Palestinian Authority would not enjoy immunity from prosecution in Israel, as it is not a state.
Some 55 cases are pending against the PA for its alleged involvement in attacks on Israelis in previous years, the ministry said in a statement.