USA: Speaking to Reuters Television before heading to peace talks at the U.S. State Department, Israeli chief negotiator Tzipi Livni says peace is in the interest of the Israelis, Palestinians and the international community

Record ID: 349722

  • Title: USA: Speaking to Reuters Television before heading to peace talks at the U.S. State Department, Israeli chief negotiator Tzipi Livni says peace is in the interest of the Israelis, Palestinians and the international community
  • Date: 30th July 2013
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JULY 30, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI CHIEF NEGOTIATOR TZIPI LIVNI SAYING: "Well, what we are hoping to do today is to restart the negotiations that will start between the Israelis and the Palestinians and hopefully to achieve peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, end of conflict, this is something that we all n
  • Embargoed: 14th August 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA41IRLZCDTYTOI7R28167TZEH
  • Story Text: Speaking to Reuters Television before leaving her hotel for peace talks at the U.S. State Department on Tuesday (July 30), Israeli chief negotiator Tzipi Livni told Reuters Televisions the hope was to restart negotiations with the aim of achieving peace.

    "What we are hoping to do today is restart the negotiations that will start between the Israelis and the Palestinians and hopefully to achieve peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians and, end of conflict, this is something that we all need in the region. It is the Israeli interest. It is the Palestinian interest. It is the interest of the international community, so let's do it," she said.
    Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held their first peace talks in nearly three years starting on Monday (July 29) in a U.S.-brokered effort that Secretary of State John Kerry hopes will end their conflict despite deep divisions.
    Top aides to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas began the talks over an iftar dinner Monday night - the evening meal with which Muslims break their daily fast during Ramadan - hosted by Kerry at the State Department.
    Livni described the tone of the dinner as "very good."

    "Yes, it was very good. We are not strangers. I know Saeb Erekat who is the chief negotiator on the Palestinian side. It is not our first meeting so after years of stagnation it is time to restart, to talk, to put everything on the table and to make decisions," she said.
    Kerry, who has prodded, coaxed and cajoled the two sides to resume negotiations in a flurry of visits to the Middle East during his less than six months in office, urged Israelis and Palestinians to strike "reasonable compromises."
    It was clear, however, from some public statements over the agenda for the talks - which are expected to run for nine months - and comments by Abbas, that there are major disagreements over issues such as borders and security.
    The parties have publicly sparred over how the negotiations will unfold, with an Israeli official saying all issues would be discussed simultaneously and a Palestinian official saying they would start with borders and security.
    The United States is seeking to broker an agreement on a "two-state solution" in which Israel would exist peacefully alongside a new Palestinian state created in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, lands occupied by the Israelis since a 1967 war.
    The major issues to be resolved in the talks include borders, the future of Jewish settlements on the West Bank, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem.
    The Palestinians, with international backing, want their future state to have borders approximating the boundaries of the West Bank, adjacent East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip before Israel captured them in the 1967 war.
    In what it called a goodwill gesture to restart diplomacy, the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday (July 28) approved the release of 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners in stages. Thousands more Palestinians remain in Israeli jails.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register