Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resume

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JERUSALEM, Dec 12 (AFP): Israelis and Palestinians resume negotiations for the first time in nearly seven years Wednesday, trying to reconcile conflicting claims and clashing dreams in a bid to end six decades of conflict.
Late Tuesday, Israel announced that the talks would be moved from Jerusalem's ornate King David Hotel to an undisclosed location. No reason for the change was given but Israeli media reports said it was an attempt to lower the profile of the meeting, since it would deal mostly with procedural matters.
Israel's plan to expand an east Jerusalem neighborhood and an Israeli military operation that killed six militants in the Gaza Strip have cast a pall over the talks even before they begin. Palestinians accused Israel of sabotaging the negotiations, a charge Israel rejected.
The Gaza operation was not expected to disrupt the talks since Israeli troops had withdrawn to a buffer zone along the territory's border with Israel by daybreak Wednesday.
But on the east Jerusalem settlement, Palestinian officials said that they wouldn't agree to discuss anything else until Israel agrees to halt all building in the territories the Palestinians want to include in a state.
The last round of talks crumbled in early 2001, shortly after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising. Since then, more than 4,400 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis have been killed.
Israel and the Palestinians formally relaunched peacemaking at an international conference last month in the United States. They set an ambitious target of December 2008 - near the end of President Bush's tenure - to conclude a peace deal.
Negotiators are expected to quickly move to issues that have buried past talks - West Bank settlements, borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state, sovereignty over disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, the chief negotiators of the two sides, are expected to lead Wednesday's talks. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert aren't scheduled to attend, though the men, who speak regularly, are expected to meet soon.