Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian representatives sat down this week in the Gaza Strip to talk about the future of Palestinians displaced during the 1967 Six-Day War.
The talks, which began Wednesday and were expected to last two days, focused on achieving a definition of who is to be considered a displaced person.
Israel estimates that about 250,000 people were displaced by war; the Palestinians put that figure at closer to 1 million.
In Eilat, meanwhile, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators discussed unresolved issues connected to the implementation of the next phase of Palestinian self- rule.
Israel Radio reported that the Israeli team presented a position paper on water, which was rejected by the Palestinians.
Israel Radio also reported that the Palestinian team called for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank city of Hebron in two stages. The proposal would limit special security arrangements for the town’s 400 Jewish residents to the center of Hebron.
Hebron has a Palestinian population totaling 80,000.
Last week, Israeli officials drew up a general security picture for Hebron that would leave Israel in charge of security for the areas in which the Jewish residents live and travel.
On Wednesday, tensions between settlers and Israeli police escalated after Rabbi Moshe Levinger was arrested and taken to the Hebron police station on unspecified charges.
Levinger, who initiated the settler presence in Hebron with a group of followers in 1968, is the spiritual leader of the town’s settlers.
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