Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to meet on Wednesday, US says

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are set to meet on Wednesday to try to extend their talks beyond an April 29 deadline, the U.S. State Department announced Tuesday.

The two sides will meet despite Israelis’ anger over the killing of an off-duty Israeli policeman in the occupied West Bank on Monday, near the beginning of the Jewish holiday Passover. The policeman's wife and a child were wounded. 

"They're going to be meeting again tomorrow," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "The parties are working on determining if there's a path to extend the negotiations for a period of months past April 29."

Asked about the killing, Psaki urged both sides "to exercise restraint and avoid any actions that would raise tensions."

The Israeli-Palestinian talks appeared on the verge of collapse this month when Israel refused to carry out a promised prisoner release, and the Palestinians signed on to 15 international conventions.

Israel called off the prisoner release unless it received assurances the Palestinian leadership would continue the talks past the deadline. In response, the Palestinians signed the treaties, including the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war and occupations.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who revived the talks in July 2013 after a nearly three-year hiatus, has sought to place the onus on the two sides for continuing the negotiations.

The main issues in the more than six-decade conflict include borders, security, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the future of Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital. 

The Associated Press