Saeb Erekat
Saeb ErekatIsrael news photo: Flash 90

The meeting in Amman on Tuesday between Israeli delegate Yitzhak Molcho and the Palestinian Authority’s chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, was positive, Channel 10 News reported.

According to the report, the parties have agreed to meet again next week in Jordan. The Israeli side had expressed interest that future meetings be held between leaders, the report said, but the agreement reached said that the meetings will be held at this level for the time being.

Molcho and Erekat were first joined by representatives of the international Quartet, and after an hour and a half held a one-on-one meeting that was mediated by the Jordanian foreign minister.

This was the first meeting between Israeli and PA delegates in a year and three months. While PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas expressed hope the meeting would jump-start the moribund peace process, on Monday he said that “all options are on the table” if Israel didn’t capitulate in Amman.

Israel previously froze construction in Judea and Samaria for ten months to meet Abbas’ demands for restarting talks, only to have him add more preconditions as a basis for peace talks and the release of all terrorists from Israel's prisons.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said he is willing to restart negotiations without preconditions from either side, in accordance with a Quartet plan calling for the resumption of talks with decisions on final status issues by December 31, 2012.

Meanwhile, President Shimon Peres said on Tuesday the Quartet’s plan and deadline that expire this month are doomed, adding that the PA and Israel will need to return to direct talks.