US Secretary of State John Kerry (right) meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on his arrival in the ‘Muqata,’ the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters, in the West Bank town of Ramallah, yesterday.
RAMALLAH: US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday discussed reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks but neither side offered details on how, when and whether that might happen.
Kerry, who spoke one-on-one with Abbas for about an hour after a 20-minute group meeting, is on his third trip to the region in three weeks, having accompanied President Barack Obama on his March 20-22 visit and returned alone a day later.
A senior US official described the talks, which took place after a week marked by clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces in the West Bank, as a constructive meeting but said little about substance.
“During the one-on-one meeting, Secretary Kerry and President Abbas discussed the path to peace and they agreed to continue working together to determine the best path forward,” the US official said in an emailed statement.
While focusing on economic issues, the wider talks included a discussion of “how to create a positive climate” for peace talks, said the senior US official. The US official said that Kerry had asked the Palestinian officials not to discuss the specifics of this discussion, a request they appear to have honoured.
Reuters
