Palestinian-Israeli final status talks will be kicked off today in west Jerusalem, by Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni and chief Palestinian negotiator, Ahmad Qurai, said Israeli officials.
The officials added that Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, looks forward to such negotiations laying out a framework for the realization of a Palestinian state as well as guidelines for security arrangements that guarantee the security of Israel.
Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that the expected talks would deal with the final status cores issues such as the status of occupied east Jerusalem, the Israeli settlements, the problem of Palestinian refugees and the borders of future a Palestinian state including security and human resources.
Last week, during the visit by US President George W. Bush to the region, Palestinians and Israelis agreed to start their final status talks.
In November 2007, Washington hosted the Annapolis peace conference, relaunching a seven-year-long stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process on basis of a two-state solution.
However, media reports suggested that the position of Prime Minister Olmert is threatened due to warnings by some parties to withdraw from the government, once these talks commence.
Israeli sources said that Olmert is expected Monday to meet with Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of Israel Byetuna party, which has warned against any final status with the Palestinians.
Liberman has always embraced a racist ideology, calling for the transfer, once and for all, of more than 4 million Palestinians from the ‘state of Israel’.
