By DPA,
Jerusalem : A second day of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations began Wednesday with a meeting between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.
Clinton was slated to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the afternoon, to be followed immediately by another direct parley between Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who also held two face-to-face meetings Tuesday.
The day of sessions in Jerusalem comes after a day of talks in the Egyptian Red Sea Resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. They are the second round of direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians, launched in Washington early this month – more than one year after the Netanyahu government took office.
The Palestinians had initially been reluctant to enter into direct talks with Netanyahu’s right-leaning government. They are also demanding he extend a moratorium on Israeli construction in the occupied West Bank, which is due to expire Sep 26.
Clinton was scheduled to make the short journey from Jerusalem to the West Bank city of Ramallah Thursday for another talk with Abbas.
In Sharm el-Sheikh Tuesday, she insisted Israel should not resume building in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit also demanded Israel extend the building freeze in the West Bank, but Netanyahu has said he cannot do that.
“Our position has been clear. We refuse any end to the moratorium,” Aboul Gheit told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh, adding Arab ministers were set to convene in Cairo Thursday to review the peace talks.
US envoy George Mitchell was slated to brief reporters at the end of the Abbas-Netanyahu talks Wednesday evening.