Negotiators from Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) ended their first meeting of peace negotiations on Wednesday with little progress but an agreement about a next meeting.

 

Aryeh Mekel, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said that during the meeting, the Palestinian side raised the issues of Israel's recent plan of expanding an East Jerusalem settlement and Israeli army's Tuesday military operation in Gaza, while the Israeli side raised its security concern following the Qassam rocket barrage against southern Israeli communities on Wednesday morning.

 

Mekel said during the one hour meeting, the two sides, headed by former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni respectively, mainly exchanged their views, and agreed to meet again in about two weeks.

 

Israel and the PNA on Wednesday formally kicked off a new round of bilateral peace talks with the aim of reaching a permanent deal by the end of 2008.

 

The meeting was kept on a low-profile, as the originally scheduled photo opportunity for the media was canceled due to Palestinian protest against the latest Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged on Monday that he would take advantage of the opportunity created by the Annapolis summit to reach a historic breakthrough with the Palestinians.

 

Addressing a business conference in Tel Aviv, the prime minister said the opportunity to make peace with Palestinians had many uncertain components, risks and dangers, but "it is impossible to ignore them."

 

However, the new round of peace efforts went into trouble even before it started, as Palestinians said Israel's recent plan of settlement expansion and the latest military operation in Gaza could endanger the peace process.

 

Israel launched a day-long large-scale incursion into Gaza, during which eight Palestinian militants were killed. Seeking revenge for the Israeli offensive, Palestinian militants in Gaza launched about 20 Qassam rockets into southern Israel on Wednesday morning, lightly wounding an Israeli resident.

 

In light of the Qassam attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert convened the security cabinet, and instructed the army to continue carrying out pinpoint military operation inside Gaza, instead of launching a large-scale incursion into the coastal strip.

 

The Palestinians, however, doubted Israel's intention by carrying out the operation just one day before the negotiations.

 

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, on Tuesday accused Israel of trying to thwart final-status negotiations before they could be started on Wednesday.

 

"The Israeli government's determination to continue the offensives, assassinations and expanding settlements boosts the doubts about the Israeli intentions regarding the negotiations," the spokesman told reporters.

 

"It is difficult to go on with the negotiation process under the assassinations, deliberate killing, land confiscation and other procedures that don't suit the spirit of the peace process," he added.

 

Meanwhile, the dispute Har Homa settlement expansion also overshadowed Wednesday's talks.

 

On Dec. 2, Israel Land Administration published tenders for building 307 new housing units in the settlement of Har Homa, which the Palestinians call Jabal Abu Ghuneim.

 

The plan has drawn wide criticism from the Palestinians, Arab states, European countries and even the United States.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2007)