Palestinians hope peace efforts can be salvaged

The chief Palestinian peace negotiator said Monday his first meeting with Israelis in more than a year will be a last-ditch effort to salvage the peace process and warned that the Palestinians would explore alternatives if no progress is made.Saeb Erekat said he was holding out hope for Tuesdays meeting in Jordan, but acknowledged his expectations were low as he reiterated his long-standing demand for an Israeli freeze on settlement construction. Without a breakthrough, he warned, the Palestinians will be forced to examine alternatives to peace talks at the end of the month. Those could include again trying for recognition at the U.N.The Jordanian efforts are the last-minute efforts to salvage the situation, Erekat warned.Erekat is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus peace envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, at Tuesdays meeting. It is the first time the sides are meeting since negotiations collapsed in September 2010.Officials say the meeting is not a formal negotiating session. Instead, it is aimed at finding enough common ground to resume negotiations.The meeting is taking place under the auspices of the Quartet, an international group that mediates Mideast peace efforts.The Quartet, consisting of the U.S., European Union, Russia and the United Nations, has been trying to revive talks for months with the goal of forging a peace deal by the end of this year.The Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. Israel captured all three areas in the 1967 Mideast war, though it withdrew from Gaza in 2005.