JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli and Palestinian teams headed to Washington on Monday for preliminary talks on resuming formal negotiations after five years of stalemate.<br />
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Both sides emphasized that many obstacles stand between them and a final deal on setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel.<br />
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Talks will be complex, said Israel's chief negotiator, Tzipi Livni. She said she was heading to the Washington meetings, which are to begin later Monday, "cautiously, but also with hope."<br />
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Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian spokeswoman, said the upcoming talks are being held under more difficult conditions than previous negotiations. She cited the Palestinian political split, with Western-backed moderates and Islamic militants running rival governments, and the more hawkish positions of Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, compared to his predecessor.<br />
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"But I think there is a recognition of the urgency," she said. "If we don't move fast and decisively, things could fall apart."<br />
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The preliminary talks in Washington were made possible after Israel's Cabinet on Sunday agreed in principle to release 104 long-held Palestinian prisoners, convicted of offenses including the killing or wounding of Israelis and the killing of suspected Palestinian collaborators.<br />
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The prisoners are to be released in four stages, with each release linked to progress in negotiations.<br />
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The resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian contacts was a result of six months of shuttle diplomacy by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.<br />
