Mideast Peace Talks Resume in Washington

European Pressphoto Agency

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, right, whom the Obama administration named as a special envoy to facilitate the day-to-day dialogue between the Israelis and Palestinians.

WASHINGTON?The first direct peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians in nearly three years began Monday night in Washington, initiating a diplomatic process the two sides have committed to follow for at least nine months.

The round, set to conclude Tuesday, was expected to look at the timing and location for future negotiations, U.S. and Arab officials said, rather than the contentious issues that have frustrated American diplomats for decades. These include the borders of a future Palestinian state, security, and the status of refugees who were displaced by the creation of Israel and the 1967 war.

The relaunch of talks highlighted the effort the second Obama administration, and Secretary of State John Kerry in particular, has placed on forging an independent Palestinian state. U.S. officials have argued to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that a peace treaty could help stabilize a Middle East shaken by conflicts in Egypt, Syria and Iraq.

"During my March visit to the region, I experienced firsthand the profound desire for peace among both Israelis and Palestinians, which reinforced my belief that peace is both possible and necessary," President Barack Obama said in a statement released Monday ahead of the talks. "The most difficult work of these negotiations is ahead."

To support the process, the Obama administration on Monday named Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, as a special envoy to facilitate the day-to-day dialogue between the Israelis and Palestinians. Most of this diplomacy is expected to shift back to the Middle East after Tuesday, said U.S. and Arab officials involved in the talks. "Perhaps, Mr. Secretary, through your efforts?this time we'll actually make it," Mr. Indyk said Monday at a news conference with Mr. Kerry at the State Department.

Mideast diplomats and analysts remained cautious about any major breakthrough being achieved in the coming months.

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They cited the fractious domestic political environments faced by both Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Abbas within their own governments and societies. The growing instability of Israel's neighbors, particularly Syria and Egypt, also could constrain Mr. Netanyahu's ability to make territorial concessions, they said.

"I don't see the two sides having any political incentives right now" to take chances, said Ghaith al-Omari of the American Task Force on Palestine, an advocacy group that supports a two-state solution. "But they don't want to say 'no' to talks, when Kerry is seen as doing the right thing."

The resumption of the peace process on Monday resulted from Mr. Kerry's six trips to the Mideast since taking up his post in February. During that time, he held separate marathon negotiating sessions with both Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Abbas, and stressed that time could be running out for ending their conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state.

Mr. Netanyahu, to support the process, agreed on Sunday to release more than 100 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom were jailed before the formal Arab-Israeli peace process began in the early 1990s. The Palestinians, in turn, have pledged not to take steps in the coming months to seek statehood through the United Nations General Assembly or other international bodies, according to U.S. and Arab officials.

Mr. Netanyahu, however, didn't concede to Mr. Abbas's two main demands to restart the peace process, according to U.S. officials. These included a complete freeze of Jewish construction in disputed territories and the recognition that Israel's borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, with land-swapping where necessary, would form the baseline for the negotiations.

U.S. officials said, however, that the Israelis are expected to restrain any significant building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem while the talks are under way.

Mr. Kerry held short meetings Monday night with the Palestinian and Israeli delegations before a dinner at the State Department commemorating Iftar, the breaking of fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, a former foreign minister, is leading the Israeli side, facing the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat.

"These first talks are largely symbolic," said an Arab official briefed on the talks. "The real negotiations will take place back in the region."

Mr. Kerry on Monday deputized Mr. Indyk to take charge of the day-to-day supervision of the peace process. The decision, in part, is designed to free the secretary of state to spend more time focusing on Asia and the crises afflicting Egypt and Syria, said U.S. officials. Mr. Indyk, as a facilitator, isn't expected to sit in on all the negotiations.

Mr. Indyk was a top official working on the Mideast during the Clinton administration, including stints at the White House and State Department. He has spent much of the past decade writing and analyzing the Mideast's conflict as a vice president at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Some Arab officials said they were wary of Mr. Kerry stepping back too much from the peace process. They said top American leadership is needed to force concessions from both sides.

Write to Jay Solomon at jay.solomon@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared July 30, 2013, on page A8 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Mideast Peace Talks Resume in Washington.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324170004578636273439830956.html?mod=europe_home

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