U.S. Says Israeli-Palestinian Talks to Resume Aug. 14 in Jerusalem

Palestinian and Israeli negotiators will resume talks on ending their long-standing conflict on August 14 in Jerusalem, the U.S. State Department said Thursday.

The talks restarted last month in Washington under U.S. mediation, and both sides agreed to try to resolve their differences within nine months.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters that U.S. mediator Martin Indyk would attend the next round of talks, which will be followed by a meeting in Jericho.

She added that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who hosted July's resumption of the talks "does not expect to make any announcement in the aftermath of this round of talks."

After three years of stalemate in the peace process and six decades of hot and cold conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, last month's meeting was hailed as a breakthrough.

Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erakat held two days of face-to-face dialogue in the U.S. capital and promised to quickly resume talks in their divided region.

The rivals and their U.S. mentor hope to reach an agreement on recognizing two states living side-by-side in peace, across a border roughly based on that of 1967, but many thorny issues remain.

The final status of the city of Jerusalem and of Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory are expected to be sticking points, along with Palestinian demands that refugees be allowed to return to land now in Israel.