Report: Kerry to announce direct Israeli-Palestinian talks

http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-prolongs-trip-set-to-meet-Abbas-in-Ramallah-320386

Report: Kerry to announce direct Israeli-Palestinian talks
By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFF
07/19/2013 14:03
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Israeli media says US secretary of state will call news conference shortly; Kerry reportedly returns to Jordan after meeting with Abbas in Ramallah.
US Secretary of State Kerry and PA Chief Abbas
US Secretary of State Kerry and PA Chief Abbas Photo: REUTERS

AMMAN - US Secretary of State John Kerry will convene a news conference within the hour to announce that Israel and the Palestinians will resume direct peace negotiations, according to numerous Israeli media outlets.

Kerry arrived in the West Bank to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas earlier Friday as part of a last-ditch effort to win Ramallah's approval for a renewal of talks.
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Before meeting Abbas, Kerry held discussions with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in Amman on Friday and had been consulting Israeli officials by telephone, a US official said.

A State Department official in Amman said Kerry would go to Ramallah in the afternoon to see Abbas, but did not disclose his proposals to revive peace talks that broke down in 2010.

The Palestinian leadership on Thursday did not accept Kerry's latest plan, but signaled that it was leaving the door open for him to continue his peace push.

A Palestinian official said Erekat had told Kerry the Palestinians were ready to return to negotiations if Israel agreed that talks be based in principle on the 1967 borders.

"We also have some clarifications needed in relation to (Israeli) settlement and (the release of Palestinian) prisoners," a Palestinian official said.

An Israeli government spokesman could not be reached for comment on Kerry's visit. Israel has balked at the Palestinians' demands and says talks should resume with no preconditions.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin said Friday to establish a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders would be "suicidal".

"A negotiation in which you first say what you are willing to give up ... is not the kind of negotiation that leads to good results in the Middle East," Elkin told Israel Radio.

Kerry, on his sixth peacemaking visit to the region since March, was due to return to the United States later on Friday.

US President Barack Obama spoke by telephone on Thursday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and urged him to resume peace talks with Palestinians, the White House said in a statement.

The telephone call was part of regular consultations between the two leaders, the White House said.

"The President encouraged Prime Minister Netanyahu to continue to work with Secretary Kerry to resume negotiations with the Palestinians as soon as possible," the White House said, noting the leaders also talked about security issues in Egypt, Iran and Syria.

This gives my stomach flip flops, All we need is a peace treaty, agreeing to share the temple mount and it's on! 7yrs!

I saw over at jpost.com I think?? that they ran off all but the muslims.. on the temple mount that is.