Israeli and Palestinian negotiators meet secretly in Jerusalem

A senior Palestinian official reported on Tuesday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met secretly in Jerusalem, a week after resuming peace talks in the Holy City.

The official said that the Palestinian delegation was headed by Saeb Erakat and Mohammad Shtayyeh, while the Israeli delegation was presided by the Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Molcho.

Details of the discussions were not revealed nor were they leaked.

The official added that U.S. Secretary of State Kerry's special envoy Martin Indyk met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday to continue negotiations "despite settlement construction."

This comes as Israel announced plans to build more than 2,000 new Jewish settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem and in the occupied West Bank.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on a visit to the West Bank town of Ramallah that he was "deeply concerned by Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank.

However, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played down the settlements issue at a meeting with Ban later the same day. Peace talks failed just weeks after they began in September 2010 over the issue of settlement building.