Israel and Palestine may resume indirect peace talks, which have been stalled for more than a year due to Israel's refusal to halt settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, "in the near future", Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said.
The statement, quoted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, came during Lieberman's Tuesday visit to Azerbaijan, where he met with former Soviet state's President Ilkham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov.
Lieberman reportedly called on Azerbaijan to "stress the importance of direct talks [between Israel and Palestine] during the upcoming visit of Palestinian administration head Mahmoud Abbas to Baku."
Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians have stalled since Israel's late 2008 offensive on the Gaza Strip aimed at ending rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave. The conflict left 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
Settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, has been the main obstacle to reviving the peace talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in late November 2009 that construction would be limited in the occupied West Bank, but not in East Jerusalem. He also said construction would resume in the future. The Palestinians have refused to return to the negotiations until the construction is completely halted.
In late January, Mahmoud Abbas reiterated the Palestinians' demand during a meeting with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell in Jordan's capital of Amman.
Under the internationally agreed roadmap for Middle East peace, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement construction activity, and remove unauthorized outposts built since 2001 from the Palestinian territories.
Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union comprise the Middle East Quartet of intermediaries for peace efforts.
МTEL AVIV, February 10 (RIA Novosti)
