(MENAFN - Jordan Times) Palestinian and Israeli top negotiators met in Amman yesterday hosted by the foreign ministry.
An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the meeting took place, adding that Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh gave a brief welcome speech as Palestinian top negotiator Saeb Erekat met with his Israeli counterpart Yitzhak Molcho.
The minister urged both parties to continue talks to reach final solutions and then left the meeting room, the official said.
Later in the day, Judeh told Jordan TV that Amman has succeeded in "breaking the stalemate" between the Palestinians and Israelis, citing "communication currently under way" between the two sides.
He stopped short of mentioning the Erekat-Molcho Wednesday meeting.
He said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to send a letter to Israeli premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to reply.
Agence France-Presse reported yesterday that Netanyahu is to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the coming weeks, quoting Israeli and Palestinian officials as saying on Wednesday.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu will meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad," Israeli premier's spokesperson Ofir Gendelman said in a statement posted on his official Twitter feed.
He initially said the meeting would take place next week, but later clarified that it would occur after the Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins at sundown on Friday and ends on April 13.
Palestinian officials confirmed the meeting and that Fayyad would hand Netanyahu a letter from Abbas about the stalled peace process.
"A Palestinian delegation will take a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," Nimr Hammad, an adviser to Abbas told AFP on Wednesday.
He said Fayyad would be joined by senior Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo and negotiator Saeb Erekat.
Visiting US envoy David Hale was meeting Fayyad early on Wednesday evening and was scheduled to see Abbas later, Palestinian officials said.
Hale met with Judeh on Tuesday over developments in the peace process.
Netanyahu's office did not say if Hale would also meet the Israeli side during his current trip.
Gendelman said that Netanyahu would send his own letter to Abbas after the talks. "Prime minister's envoy Molcho will deliver a letter from the prime minister to President Abbas following the meeting," he wrote.
Direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold since September 2010, but Jordan and the peacemaking Quartet sponsored several rounds of meetings between envoys from each sides in January.
Those talks, held in Amman, were intended to pave the way back to direct negotiations, but ended without agreement on how they might resume.
With the process stalled, Abbas has reportedly prepared a letter restating Palestinian terms for returning to negotiations and warning that the status quo risks rendering the Palestinian Authority useless.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday that the letter would not include any threats by Abbas to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, as had previously been reported.
But on Monday, the Palestinian leader said his message would contain a warning for the Israeli leader.
"You have made the Palestinian Authority a non-authority. You have taken from it all its specialisations and commitments," he said in Cairo, quoting from the letter.
Israel says it wants to return to the talks without preconditions, but the Palestinians want clear parameters for discussions and an Israeli settlement freeze before they resume negotiations, AFP said.
