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Al Jazeera
US President Barack Obama welcomed the imminent start of talks between Israel and the Palestinians, but urged both sides to approach them with honesty."The most difficult work of these negotiations is ahead, and I am hopeful that both the Israelis and Palestinians will approach these talks in good faith," he said on Monday.
Obama thanked his own top diplomat, Secretary of State John Kerry, for organising the talks, which were to begin later Monday in Washington with an initial exchange between top negotiators.
"I am pleased that Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas have accepted Secretary Kerry's invitation to formally resume direct final status negotiations and have sent senior negotiating teams to Washington for the first round of meetings," Obama said.
Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry named former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk as his main envoy in Israeli-Palestinian talks starting in Washington later on Monday and said he was seeking "reasonable compromises" in the tough negotiations."Going forward it is no secret this is a difficult process. If it were easy, it would have happened a long time ago," Kerry told reporters.
The Guardian
The US secretary of state John Kerry said on Monday that "tough" peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine will be overseen by a former US ambassador to Israel.Kerry said that Martin Indyk, president Bill Clinton's ambassador to Israel, had a deep appreciation of the Middle East conflict and the "art" of US diplomacy in the region.
"He knows what has worked, and he knows what hasn't worked," said Kerry, with Indyk stood by his side. "And he knows how important it is to get this right."
Kerry was speaking at the state department just hours before hosting an opening dinner between the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Washington, for the start of two days of talks.
"Going forward, it is no secret that this is a difficult process – if it was easy it would have happened a long time ago," he said. "It's no secret therefore that many difficult choices therefore lie ahead for the negotiators, and for the leaders, and as we seek reasonable compromises on tough, complicated, emotional and symbolic issues."
He added: "I think 'reasonable compromises' has to be a keystone for all of this effort."