JERUSALEM—Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held undisclosed peace talks after a deadly Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip led to their brief suspension and will meet again on Monday, Israeli officials said.
Despite growing tensions over settlement expansion on occupied land, Israeli Prime Ehud Olmert said the construction would continue in Jerusalem and in settlement blocs the Jewish state wants to keep as part of any deal with the Palestinians.
"There will be places where there will be construction, or additions to construction, because these places will remain in Israel's hands in any future constellation—and this includes, first and foremost, Jerusalem, and everyone knows this," Olmert told a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The comments come despite pressure from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for both Israel and the Palestinians to do more to meet their commitments under the long-stalled "road map" peace plan.
Washington has been especially critical of Israeli plans to build hundreds of new homes in Jewish settlements in and around Jerusalem, in areas occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.
The peace talks, led by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, have shown little sign of progress since they were launched at a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November.
"There will be a meeting today between the foreign minister ... who heads the negotiating team in order to continue the negotiations with the Palestinian side led by Abu Ala (Qurie)," Olmert said. "We have not stopped, we are not stopping and we will not give up."
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Livni and Qurie met secretly about 10 days ago but that session was not publicly disclosed.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat declined to comment.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas temporarily suspended the negotiations earlier this month after an Israeli offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip killed more than 120 Palestinians, many of them civilians.
Israel said the incursion was meant to counter cross-border rocket fire by militants.
Commitments
The road map calls on the Jewish state to remove outposts built without government authorisation in the West Bank and to halt all settlement activity in the territory. It demands that the Palestinians crack down on militants.
"We have many obligations. The Palestinians have many obligations," Olmert said.
"But what is most important is to hold serious and genuine negotiations with the Palestinian Authority -- and not stop them or delay them, so that it is possible to reach an agreement. We want this wholeheartedly," Olmert said.
Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the West Bank since Hamas Islamists seized Gaza in June, wants to reach a full-fledged agreement allowing him to declare statehood.
Olmert has said the goal of the peace talks was to reach an understanding this year on "basic principles" for a Palestinian state, with implementation only once Abbas reined in militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as called for under the long-stalled "road map" peace plan.
Israel has yet to meet its own commitments under the road map to halt all settlement activity and uproot Jewish outposts in the West Bank built without Israeli government authorisation.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday that neither Israel nor the Palestinians had done "nearly enough" to meet peacemaking obligations.
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