By RIA Novosti,
Tel-Aviv : Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Tuesday that attempts to impose a strict time-frame on negotiations over key issues between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) did nothing to aid peace talks, the Haaretz newspaper reported.
Israel and the PNA pledged in a U.S.-sponsored meeting in Annapolis, Maryland last year to resume peace talks, draft a settlement plan by late 2008, and come to terms on the form of a future independent Palestinian state. However their talks have so far made little tangible progress.
“The time-frame in which an agreement will be reached is important, but its contents are even more important,” Livni said at a meeting with the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who is currently on a visit to Israel.
“Strict time tables may create expectations, disappointment and violence,” she added.
U.S. President George Bush, who recently visited Israel during a trip to the Middle East, has stated that he would like to see an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in place before he leaves office next January.