John Kerry Cites Progress to ‘Framework’ Peace Deal

Where?s Progress? Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Sen. John McCain in Jerusalem. Protests greeted his planned visit to the West Bank, where Palestinians are angry at the slow pace of peace talks. Image by getty images

By Reuters January 4, 2014

Israel and the Palestinians are making progress towards reaching a framework peace agreement but they are not there yet, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters on Saturday.

Kerry spoke after about three hours of talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, the Palestinian seat of government in the West Bank.

“I am confident that the talks we have had in the last two days have already fleshed out and even resolved certain kinds of issues and presented new opportunities for others,” he said.

Kerry is on his tenth trip to the region in the past year as he seeks to secure a peace deal. He was to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem later on Saturday.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks brokered by the United States resumed last July after a three-year halt with Kerry leading mediation efforts to keep them going despite neither party expressing much hope for a successful outcome.

Kerry said he would fly to Jordan and to Saudi Arabia on Sunday to meet with the kings of each Arab nation to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which resumed on July 29 with a target of reaching a final agreement within nine months.

Arab support is regarded as essential for the Palestinians to be able to make the compromises likely to be necessary to strike a peace deal with Israel.

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