Abbas and Livni meet for first time since talks fail

A senior Israeli official has revealed that Mahmoud Abbas met directly with Israel’s Justice Minister and chief negotiator Tzipi Livni in London.

According to Haaretz, the two had an unscheduled meeting on Thursday evening, in what marks the first public dialogue between the figures since the breakdown of the latest round of peace talks last month.

Livni reportedly expressed her concern at Abbas’s plans to form a unity government with Hamas, saying that the decision is “very problematic” for Israel and will be a stumbling-block for future negotiations between Israel and Palestine.

After the 24 April announcement of moves towards unity between Fatah and Hamas, who have been split since 2007, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the move, calling on Abbas to “choose whether he wants reconciliation with Hamas or peace with Israel.”

Both Livni and Abbas were in London at the same time as US Secretary of State John Kerry, with whom they each held a separate meeting.

Livni secured temporary diplomatic immunity from the UK government to allow her to carry out her current visit, after a London law firm requested her arrest for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The Israeli television channel Channel 2 reported that Binyamin Netanyahu had expressed his anger at Livni for holding the meeting, which according to the Jerusalem Post was “unsanctioned.”

The Israeli official quoted in Haaretz stated that, though the meeting was held at short notice, Livni had notified Netanyahu of her plans ahead of time.