Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland made the U.S. position clear as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met again on Monday in Amman, the capital city of Jordan, for their second meeting in a week.
"Our hope and the Quartet proposal put down in September spoke of face-to-face meetings, which would lead to putting down concrete proposals on security and on territory, and working through those together as the first step toward a broader, more comprehensive effort at a peace settlement," Nuland told a regular news briefing.
"So, obviously, we`re hoping that the fact that they`re talking together can lead to real proposals, can lead to real solutions," she added.
The Quartet, comprising the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, proposed in September that the parties present comprehensive proposals within three months on territory and security, make substantial progress within six months, and reach an overall agreement by the end of 2012.
Quartet envoys had three separate meetings with the parties in Jerusalem from October to December, but failed to make any breakthrough.
Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel like Egypt, initiated the first face-to-face meeting between Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat and his Israeli counterpart, Yitzhak Molcho, on Jan. 3. The kingdom said it would host a series of meetings on its soil in a bid to revitalize the stalled peace process.
Nuland said unlike the last one, the parties were meeting directly in Amman, without the presence of the Quartet envoys in the room.
"As we said last week, we consider this a positive step as they go forward and begin to talk to each other, because obviously only by talking to each other are these issues going to get settled," she added.
The U.S. made the Israelis and Palestinians sit down for direct negotiations in Washington in September 2010. But the talks collapsed weeks later due to Israel`s refusal to renew its freeze on settlement building in the occupied West Bank.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
