Palestinian - Israeli talks resume

The Palestinians and Israelis resumed their talks yesterday.

However, Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy expressed his country's refusal to withdraw to the 1967 borders and said Jerusalem remains with its two halves as the unified capital of Israel as well as to keep the settlements under Israeli sovereignty and rule out the existence of a Palestinian army in the West Bank.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Mohamed Abbas (Abu Mazen) confirmed in the negotiations that the Palestinians are looking forward to establishing an independent state with the borders that existed in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital.

Moreover, he called for resolving the Palestinian refugees' problem depending on UN General Assembly resolution 194, which appeals for the demolition of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Representatives of the USA, Russia, China, Japan, the European Union, Norway, Egypt and Jordan attended the celebrations of the negotiation's beginning.