OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel Friday afternoon for an intensive series of meetings with Israeli leaders as the pace of discussions about reviving the Israel-Palestinian peace talks heated up. In what has become an exercise in shuttle diplomacy, Kerry began his day in Amman, Jordan, where he held a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. A State Department official described that meeting, which included a lengthy one-on-one discussion, as “very constructive.” Kerry then flew by Jordanian helicopter to occupied Jerusalem where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Kerry was scheduled to meet later with President Shimon Peres and, according to Israeli Radio, stay for the Sabbath dinner. It was Kerry's second visit to Israel in less than 24 hours. On Thursday, Kerry drove in a motorcade from Amman to Jerusalem, where he met for more than four hours with Netanyahu before driving back. A State Department official described that meeting, which ended as 1:25 a.m., as “a productive, in-depth and wide-ranging conversation about the importance of moving forward on the peace process.” Kerry has made clear that his goal is to make headway toward resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks well before September when the United Nations General Assembly will once again debate the Middle East. American officials have also stressed that the strategy is not just to begin new talks but to position the negotiations to make progress on core issues like borders and security arrangements for Israel on the West Bank that have proved to be formidable barriers in the past. Direct talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders were last held in 2010. Their resumption has been hampered by the Israeli rejection of Abbas's demand that the Israelis freeze new settlement construction as a precondition; the gulf between the two sides on Israel's insistence on maintaining a lengthy security presence on West Bank territory that is returned to the Palestinians, and the status of Jerusalem, among other issues. Just a day before Kerry's visit, an Israeli committee gave final approval of 69 new settler homes in annexed Arab East Jerusalem. While the United States was low-key in its reaction, Palestinian senior negotiator Hanan Ashrawi called the move an Israeli repudiation of Kerry's peace initiative. US officials say they want to build a solid foundation for the peace talks so that any renewed negotiations are not just symbolic but have a real chance of moving towards a lasting deal. Ideas floated include Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners jailed since before the 1993 Oslo peace accords, a gesture that could give Abbas more political room to negotiate. Another possibility would be an informal agreement for Israel not to announce new settlements, without explicitly declaring a freeze — a step that would go down badly in Netanyahu's right-leaning government. — Agencies
