U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to build on their meeting in Amman, Jordan and "establish forward momentum toward a lasting peace." The chief Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators were holding their first face-to-face meeting in more than a year in the Jordanian capital on Tuesday in a quest for a formula to restart long-stalled negotiations. Jordan's Foreign Ministry said Israel's Yitzhak Molcho and Palestinian envoy Saeb Erekat met with envoys from the Quartet of Mideast mediators-the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations. "The Secretary-General commends the Palestinian and Israeli negotiators for meeting in Jordan today (Tuesday) and expresses his appreciation to the King of Jordan as well as Foreign Minister Judeh for facilitating this meeting," a statement from Ban's office said yesterday. "The Secretary-General encourages the parties to build on this meeting and to continue working to establish forward momentum toward a lasting peace."
