Netanyahu, Abbas agree to continue talks

Leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority reached an agreement to continue the direct Middle East talks, as Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas announced after a meeting in Washington.

George Mitchell, the US's special envoy to the Middle East, said: “They agreed to meet again on September 14 and 15 in the region and roughly two weeks thereafter, every two weeks thereafter.”

“Our goal is to resolve all of the core issues within one year. And the parties themselves have suggested and agreed that the logical way to proceed, to tackle them is to try to reach a framework agreement first,” he said.

However, Israeli and Palestinian leaders will meet privately in order to reach success, and it’s unclear whether Hillary Clinton or Mitchell will mediate inside the meetings or remain outside. The US diplomat said that his statements following the meetings between the two sides will be limited. “We understand that the talks will not be easy,” he said.