Report: US promoting peace summit in Jordan
Arab media reports Kerry working on arranging meeting between Israel, PA to end stalemate in peace talks
According to the reports, Kerry is working alongside Jordanian officials to arrange the meeting which was proposed during a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Jordan's King Abdullah on Friday.
Related stories:
- Obama plays tourist in Petra
- US unblocks $500M for Palestinians
- Kerry in Israel on eve of Obama visit
There has not been any official confirmation of the report but a Jordanian official told Ynet that a high-level meeting is being planned for April or May.
Netanyahu and Kerry (Photo: Amos Ben Gershom, GPO)
Earlier on Saturday, Kerry met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman.
Palestinian Ambassador to Jordan Atallah Khairi told UPI that the meeting resulted in a "US pledge to prepare a study and measures to revive a new political process between (Palestinians) and Israelis."
The ambassador disclosed that Palestinian-American talks are expected to be held soon, although he noted that Kerry himself did not speak of any upcoming talks between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
Abbas' diplomatic advisor Majdi al-Khalidi said that during the meeting, Abbas reiterated his stance in respect to the resumption of talks and stressed that the Americans have yet to present a peace plan.
Kerry and Abbas. 'Someone Palestinians can trust' (Photo: EPA)
While the Palestinians have lowered their expectations for a breakthrough that would see a revival of peace talks, a senior Palestinian official said that the PA has noticed a change in the US's attitude since Kerry took office.
It was suggested that the Palestinians view Kerry as someone who they can trust more than his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, and that he has shown great willingness to facilitate a breakthrough in talks between Israel and the PA.
Also Saturday, the US secretary of state attended a luncheon hosted by Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh together with senior Jordanian officials on Saturday.
A top Jordanian official said that during his meeting with Kerry, he did not "sense anything new in the US position towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
"Kerry did not promise anything, and did not commit to anything at all, and did not mention any expected Palestinian-Israeli talks," the Jordanian official told UPI.
Elior Levy contributed to this report
- Receive Ynetnews updates
directly to your desktop
