Last week, Israel and the Palestinians agreed to meet in order to negotiate guidelines for resuming peace talks. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the breakthrough July 19th in Amman, Jordan.“We have reached an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming direct final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis,” said Secretary Kerry. “This is a significant and welcome step forward.”Mr. Kerry said the agreement is still in the process of being formalizedand that “if everything goes as expected” chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni,along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s special envoy Isaac Molho, will join Secretary Kerry in Washington to begin initial talks “within the next week or so.”Secretary of State Kerry said, “The best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private. Everyone knows this is not easy.We know that the challenges require some very tough choices in the days ahead.”He praised what he called “the courageous leadership” shown by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.“Both of them,” Mr. Kerry said, “have chosen to make difficult choices here, and both of them were instrumental in pushing in this direction.”Secretary of State Kerry noted that he is hopeful because of “the positive steps Israelis themselves and Palestinians are taking on the ground and the promise that those steps represent about the possibilities of the future.
