Uh-oh, Peace Processors Making Progress on JERUSALEM

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have made "considerable" headway in their talks aimed at inking a peace deal by the end of the year, a senior Israeli official said on Monday.

"Inking" a peace deal? I checked; it's a real word verb.

Chief Israeli negotiator Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart former prime minister Ahmed Qorei "have made considerable progress" in a series of meetings they have held in recent weeks, the official told AFP.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said that Livni and Qorei are discussing the thorniest issues of the peace talks, namely refugees and the future status of Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that the issue of Jerusalem would be the last to be discussed, after his key coalition partner, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, threatened to quit the cabinet if the topic was raised.

The reports of progress came as US Vice President Dick Cheney wrapped up a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Monday aiming to push the peace negotiations...

Before leaving Cheney said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due to return to Israel and the Palestinian territories next week in a bid to boost faltering peace talks.

Rick, won't that be Condi's 15th trip to Israel? I've lost count, though I do remember that every time she comes around, Jewish blood is spent.

I wish they'd make up their minds -- are the talks "faltering" or making "considerable progress"? Or are they truly faltering, but the processors claim progress so Condi will leave them alone? Your guess is as good as mine.

The talks are widely believed to have been stalled amid disagreements over Israeli settlement activity and violence.

By "violence" I assume Dhimmedia is referring to the unspeakably evil Arab attack on unarmed Jewish teenagers learning Torah at Merkaz HaRav in Jerusalem ISRAEL.