Israeli and Palestinian officials held talks in Jerusalem yesterday and were to meet again later the same day, Palestinian sources said, just six days after they resumed direct negotiations.
An initial two-hour meeting took place in secret in the morning, with negotiators set to return to Jerusalem's King David Hotel for a "second round of talks" at around 7:30pm , a senior official said on condition of anonymity.
"A meeting was held today between the Palestinian delegation, headed by Saeb Erakat and Mohammad Shtayyeh, and the Israeli delegation of (Justice Minister) Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Molcho," the official told AFP, saying the talks had started at 11:00am.
The meetings were taking place just six days after Israeli and Palestinian negotiators formally resumed direct peace talks after a hiatus of nearly three years, thanks to an intense bout of shuttle diplomacy by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Details of the morning discussions were not revealed, following a request from Washington last week for a strict news blackout.
In the evening, the negotiators were to focus on "how to begin discussing borders and security," one source said, indicating that the talks on borders would touch on the issue of Jerusalem, settlements and the Jordan River.
Each team was expected to hand over a list of names of the negotiators who would chair committees on key issues such as Jerusalem, borders, security, prisoners, water , settlements and the economy.