The Azerbaijan State News Agency

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CLINTON TO ANNOUNCE DIRECT MIDEAST TALKS TO RESUME

20.08.2010 [16:10]
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Baku, August 20 (AZERTAC). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to announce Friday that Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to return to direct talks to address core issues, diplomatic sources and a senior U.S. official said.

The sources said President Barack Obama is expected to invite the parties to talks in Washington in early September. But they cautioned the final details were still being worked out.

If the talks resume, it would be the first time since peace talks broke down in December 2008 over Israel`s three-week military offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

At a news briefing Thursday, State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley talked about the work being done to get both parties to restart the talks.

"We think we`re very, very close, but there`s still work being done and there are details being worked out," Crowley said.