Livni: Next round of peace talks in Israel

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The next round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will be held in Israel next week, according to Tzipi Livni, Israel’s chief negotiator.

Livni, the country’s justice minister, told Israel’s Channel 10 over the weekend that the negotiations, scheduled to last about nine months, would alternate between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The next round will be held in Israel during the second week in August, by which time the first group of Palestinian prisoners will be freed, Livni said. Some 104 Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs who have been held in Israeli jails for involvement in terror attacks before the Oslo Accords are set to be freed during the talks, dependent on the progress of the negotiations.

The sides resumed talks late last month following an intensive diplomatic effort led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.