Leaders from Israel and Palestine have arrived in Washington to resume the long-stalled peace talks, announced the U.S. State Department. The talks will kick off Monday evening and continue Tuesday, said U.S. Department of State Spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
The spokeswoman said the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the presidents of Israel and Palestine Sunday, and the two leaders agreed the talks would "serve as an opportunity to develop a procedural work plan for how the parties can proceed with the negotiations in the coming months."
"Both leaders have demonstrated a willingness to make difficult decisions that have been instrumental in getting to this point. We are grateful for their leadership," said John Kerry in a statement.
John Kerry had announced the restart of the talks July 19 after meeting with leaders of the two sides and if the talks bring any positive outcome, it can be credited to Kerry's six months of frenetic shuttle diplomacy.
The last round of direct talks between the two sides came to an end three years ago over the issue of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
When Hilary Clinton was secretary of state, she tried to navigate the talks between the two parties but failed to bring them to a common ground.
"Through hard and deliberate work, we have been able to narrow those gaps very significantly," John Kerry told reporters after meetings with the leaders of the two sides.
Meeting a long-standing demand of Palestinians, the Israeli government is all set to release 104 long-serving Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners convicted of deadly attacks, coinciding with the resumption of the peace talks.
"This moment is not easy for me.
"It is not easy for the ministers. It is not easy especially for the families, the bereaved families, whose heart I understand. But there are moments in which tough decisions must be made for the good of the country and this is one of those moments," said the prime minister of Israel.
