Israel and Palestine strive to rescue stalled peace talks

Published on Wednesday 9 January 2008 09:24

ISRAELI and Palestinian leaders agreed to begin tackling the core issues of a final peace agreement in a last-minute push to breathe life into stalled negotiations before US president George Bush's arrival in the Middle East today.

The renewed peace talks, formally launched at a US-hosted conference in November, are a centrepiece of Mr Bush's agenda in his last year of office.

But negotiations have made little headway, marred by Israeli building plans in disputed territory and Palestinian militant attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Mr Bush hopes in the three-day visit to get peace talks back on track.

At the November peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, Israel and the Palestinians pledged to reach a final agreement by the end of the year, before Mr Bush left office.

Israeli vice-premier Haim Ramon said today the sides were belatedly beginning to discuss the most contentious subjects, and that he believed Mr Bush's visit would help the sides reach an agreement.