The US Middle East envoy, Mr Dennis Ross, arrived in Israel yesterday with a renewed mandate to push forward a new round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks amid early reports of progress.
It is the first time since the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, came to office last July that Mr Ross has acted as a mediator in the negotiations aimed at creating a framework peace accord in the next two weeks, according to a US diplomat.
The EU envoy, Mr Miguel Moratinos, who held meetings with both the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams, said the Eilat round had so far been productive. "Both sides said there has been some progress. I can say there has been progress. There are difficulties, but this is normal when they are working on final status [issues]," he said. "They're working hard to get to the scheduled timetable."
Mr Ross joined the talks late yesterday in the Red Sea resort of Eilat, where he is expected to stay for two days, although his stay in the region is likely to last a week, according to a US diplomat.
The Eilat talks, which follow two inconclusive rounds in Washington, are working to keep the mid-May deadline for a framework accord on the final status of the Palestinian territories, covering the thorniest issues dividing them, including Jerusalem, Jewish settlements, Palestinian refugees and the borders of a future Palestinian state.
Yesterday's talks were held only on an informal basis out of respect for Israel's national day of remembrance for the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.
The wail of sirens brought Israel to a standstill for two minutes yesterday in tribute to victims of the Holocaust.
"We share the same feelings with the victims of the Holocaust and we hope that their suffering would help both of us end our [Palestinian] suffering," the chief Palestinian negotiator, Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo, said in Eilat.