Arabs and Israelis returned Monday for a new round of peace talks, with the Bush administration urging the parties to confront the war-and-peace issues that have defied solution for decades.
Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi told reporters as she entered the State Department on a bright, sunny day, "We're absolutely determined this time. We are going to achieve something substantive."The Israelis made no statement entering the talks, the fifth round since negotiations opened in Madrid last October. The two sides' task is to consider what to do for 1.7 million Palestinian Arabs who live under Israeli control on the West Bank and in Gaza.