Arab ministers to meet Kerry on Mideast peace talks

CAIRO, Qahirah - The Arab League said Tuesday an Arab ministerial delegation would meet US Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome on Sunday to discuss Israel-Palestinian peace talks.

The meeting would discuss "the best ways to provide the necessary support for the success of these negotiations," Nassif Hetti, spokesman for Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi told reporters.

"We have always insisted on setting a definite time limit for these negotiations," he added.

A Palestinian official told AFP on Monday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met over the weekend without reaching a "breakthrough."

Talks between the two sides, which were relaunched during initial meetings in Washington at the end of July after intense diplomatic efforts by the United States, have taken place under a US-imposed media blackout.

In mid-August, Israel angered the Palestinians by announcing it would construct more than 2,000 additional settler homes in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem.