Kerry steps up shuttle talks with Abbas and Netanyahu
Abbas said to meet Kerry again in Jordan on Saturday.
By REUTERSKerry pulls Netanyahu by the arm 370(photo credit: Matty Stern/US Embassy Tel Aviv)
US Secretary of State John Kerry accelerated his Middle East shuttle diplomacy on Friday in the hope of persuading Israel and the Palestinians to resume direct peace negotiations.After seeing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan, Kerry flew by helicopter to Jerusalem for evening talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu - a meeting that had been originally expected to take place on Saturday.A senior State Department official said the three-hour meeting with Netanyahu involved a "detailed and substantive conversation about the way forward". Syria's civil war and Iran were also discussed.It was the men's second meeting in two days, suggesting a new urgency in Kerry's latest monthly visit to the region. Israeli officials declined to discuss the content of the talks.Later, Kerry met President Shimon Peres at his residence in a quiet suburb of Jerusalem. Peres praised Kerry for his determination in trying to revive talks."I know this is difficult, there are many problems, but as far as I'm concerned I can see how (among) people, there is a clear majority for the peace process, a two-state solution, and a great expectation that you will do it and that you can do it," he told Kerry.Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in late 2010 in a dispute over Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories that the Palestinians seek for a future state.Abbas has insisted that building in the settlements, viewed as illegal by most world powers, be halted before talks resume. He also wants Israel to recognize the boundary of the West Bank as the basis for the future Palestine's border.
It was unclear whether Kerry would be able to announce a deal on Saturday to restart talks, or whether he will have to return again for follow-up meetings.More talks aheadAbbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rdaineh said Abbas would meet Kerry again in Jordan on Saturday, and that a "clear response" was needed from Israel before talks could resume. A State Department official confirmed the Abbas meeting.Israel wants to keep settlement blocs under any future peace accord and has rejected Abbas's demands as preconditions. But it has also quietly slowed down housing starts in settlements.Palestinian and US officials did not immediately comment on the results of the Abbas-Kerry meeting. Ze'ev Elkin, Israel's deputy foreign minister, placed the peacemaking onus on Abbas.Asked on Israel Radio whether Kerry's visit - his fifth - could bring a breakthrough, Elkin said: "The only one who knows the answer to that question is not Kerry, nor Netanyahu, but Abu Mazen (Abbas)."Kerry has divulged little of his plan to bring the sides together, but has said he would not have returned to the region if he did not believe there could be progress.He is also keen to clinch a peacemaking deal before the United Nations General Assembly, which has already granted de facto recognition to a Palestinian state, convenes in September.Netanyahu is concerned that the Palestinians, in the absence of direct peace talks, could use the UN session as a springboard for further statehood moves circumventing Israel.State Department officials believe the sides will return to negotiations once there is an agreement on confidence-building measures - for example, partial Israeli amnesty for Palestinian security prisoners - and a formula for fresh talks.Part of the incentive for the Palestinians to return to talks is a $4 billion economic plan led by former British prime minister Tony Blair, whom Kerry also met in Jordan.The plan involves investments from large private-sector firms that will boost jobs and spur economic growth in agriculture, construction and tourism.
