Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni will soon be attempting to break ground in her new capacity of peace negotiator, after agreement on the basis to resume talks with the Palestinians.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that Livni and Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erakat would meet in Washington within "the next week or so" after the agreement was reached.

Originally a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party, Livni broke off in 2005 to join the centre-right Kadima party.

She led Kadima until 2008, but left after losing its leadership in 2012 and ahead of the general elections that year, formed a new movement, HaTnuah, which campaigned for renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians.

Her Polish-born father Eitan was director of operations for the Irgun, the hardline nationalist group that battled British rule before Israel's creation in 1948.

Her mother Sarah was also an Irgun militant, and the couple were the first to be married in the Jewish state after its creation in 1948 -- so Tzipi was raised steeped in the vision of a Greater Israel that would include all of the West Bank.

But under the tutelage of former prime minister Ariel Sharon, Livni became convinced the only way to preserve the Jewish state was to relinquish at least some of the land it occupied in the 1967 war.

As Netanyahu struggled to form a coalition in 2013, he declared her Israel's "negotiator with the Palestinians to reach an agreement that would end the conflict", and her movement was the first to join his emerging coalition.

Livni was born in Tel Aviv on July 8, 1958. She gained a law degree from Bar-Ilan University and specialised in commercial, constitutional and property law in a private firm for 10 years before entering public life.

She worked for four years in the Mossad foreign intelligence agency as an undercover spy.

Perceived by Israel media as erratic, unable to make decisions and lacking people skills, the vegetarian mother-of-two rarely loses her cool, once telling an interviewer she takes her frustrations out on a drum set at home.

In a statement following Kerry's Friday night announcement, Livni said after "long months of scepticism and cynicism," "four years of diplomatic stagnation are about to end".

"Alongside the opportunity, I also know that the moment negotiations start, they will be complex and not easy," she said. "But I'm convinced this is the right thing for our future, our security, our economy and values."

Kerry says Mideast peace talks to resume
Amman (AFP) July 19, 2013 - US Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet in Washington within "the next week or so" after an agreement on the basis to resume peace talks.

Both Israel and the Palestinian presidency welcomed the development, but the Islamist Hamas movement rejected a return to talks.

Kerry's announcement came after he spent four days consulting the Israeli and Palestinian leadership -- and a last-minute helicopter dash to Ramallah in the West Bank.

"I'm pleased to announce that we've reached an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis," Kerry told reporters in Amman, Jordan.

"This is a significant and welcome step forward. The agreement is still in the process of being finalised so we are absolutely not going to talk about any of the elements now."

A US State Department official said: "They have agreed on the core elements that will allow direct talks to begin".

Kerry said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat and his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni would meet him in Washington "to begin initial talks within the next week or so".

The announcement came at the end of four days of intense diplomacy by the secretary of state as he consulted Israeli and Palestinian leaders from his base in the Jordanian capital.

The Palestinian presidency hailed Friday's development.

"Abbas's meeting with Kerry in his headquarters in Ramallah on Friday evening achieved progress, and will facilitate an agreement on the basis of a resumption of talks," spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

But he also stressed there were still "specific details that need to be resolved," without elaborating.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, told AFP the movement "considers the Palestinian Authority's return to negotiations with the occupation to be at odds with the national consensus".

Its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Abbas had no legitimate right to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people.

But Livni, who is also Israeli justice minister, issued an optimistic statement.

"These were long months of scepticism and cynicism. But now, four years of diplomatic stagnation are about to end," she said.

"Alongside the opportunity, I also know that the moment negotiations start, they will be complex and not easy."

Kerry's last-minute whirlwind diplomacy came after the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah rejected his proposals for a framework to guide the relaunch of peace talks with the Israelis, stalled for nearly three years.

The setback to Kerry's peace push came from the governing Revolutionary Council of Abbas's own Fatah movement, which demanded changes to the US plan.

Talks have stuttered and started for decades in the elusive bid to reach a final peace deal between the Arab world and Israel.

But they collapsed completely in September 2010 when Israel refused to keep up a freeze on settlement building in Palestinian territories.

Kerry was upbeat in speaking to reporters before he left Amman late on Friday for Washington.

In his brief comments, he praised the courage of Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Jordan's King Abdullah II for hosting his push for peace.

"No one believes the long-standing differences between the parties will be resolved overnight or just wiped away. We know that the challenges require some very tough choices in the days ahead," Kerry said.

"Today, however, I am hopeful. I am hopeful because of the courageous leadership by President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Both of them have chosen to make difficult choices here and both of them were instrumental."

He called on both sides to "act in the best of faith and push forward.

"The representatives of two proud people today have decided that the difficult road ahead is worth travelling and that the daunting challenges that we face are worth tackling," Kerry said.

"So they have courageously recognised that in order for Israelis and Palestinians to live together side by side in peace and security, they must begin by sitting at the table together in direct talks."

Kerry arrived on Tuesday in the Jordanian capital, where he held two rounds of talks with Abbas. He also won endorsement from the Arab League for his proposals to resume talks.

On Wednesday, the US envoy had expressed cautious optimism that he was making progress.

But he acknowledged there were still differences over "the language" governing any resumption of talks.

It was the top US diplomat's sixth visit to the region since he took office in February.

On Thursday, US President Barack Obama urged Netanyahu in a telephone call "to resume negotiations with the Palestinians as soon as possible," the White House said.