Envoys from the international peacemaking Quartet seemed to make no headway on Monday after separate meetings with Israeli and Palestinians officials in a bid to kick-start long-stalled peace talks. After the talks, Israel extended a freeze on the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority (PA) while the Palestinians restated their demand for a halt to Jewish settlement before talks can resume.
"Envoys continued to encourage the parties to resume direct bilateral negotiations without delay or preconditions," a guarded Quartet statement. They "called upon the parties to create a conducive environment for restarting talks and urged the parties to refrain from provocative actions."
A UN official said that the envoys would have another round of meetings with the two sides in December. But Israel's security cabinet voted on Monday afternoon to maintain a freeze on the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, imposed after Palestine won UNESCO membership. He did not say whether the tax issue would next be reviewed.
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