Direct Talks to Start Sep. 2 in Washington

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will resume direct peace negotiations with a Sep. 2 meeting in Washington D.C.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the announcement that Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to reopen direct talks during a Friday press conference.

According to Clinton, the get-together will serve to “re-launch direct negotiations to resolve all final status issues which we believe we can complete in on year” in order to reach a comprehensive peace agreement.

Later rounds of negotiations will likely be held in another location.

King Abdullah of Jordan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have also been invited to the meeting.

Clinton remarked that there have been difficulties in the past and the future will be no different. She added, “I ask the parties to persevere, to keep moving forward even through difficult times and to continue working to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region."

The Quartet (the U.N., the U.S., the E.U. and Russia) stated n June that any direct negotiations would have a timeframe of two years for completion. The new plan calls for a period of one year. The Quartet released a statement confirming that its four parties agree negotiations can be finished within a year.

"The Quartet again calls on both sides to observe calm and restraint, and to refrain from provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric," the Quartet stated.

The Palestinian Authority has said it aims to have put in place all the requirements for statehood by the middle of next year.

Reuters cited unnamed diplomats who are saying that a unilateral declaration of statehood by the Palestinians could gain traction in international circles if the new negotiations do not produce results in the next year or if they fall apart.

Indirect peace talks have been ongoing since May after talks were frozen for 19 months. Current negotiations, with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell acting as a go-between, have been stalemated as each side cannot agree on the conditions for transitioning to direct talks.

Israel wants direct talks without preconditions while the Palestinians want to begin with a defined set of items that Israel regards as preconditions.

The exact timing of the resumption of talks is tricky due to religious holidays for Jews and Muslims, the start of the annual U.N. General Assembly in the third week of September and the end of the temporary 10-month building freeze on West Bank settlements which expires September 26th.

The White House has been hard at working pushing for the restart of direct negotiations that fell apart in December 2008.