Kerry Meets Netanyahu

Local Editor

On his fifth visit in as many months, Kerry met for dinner Thursday with Netanyahu at a hotel in Occupied al-Quds before his motorcade drove back to Amman where he meets for lunch on Friday with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

All sides were careful in their public statements, but a US official said that Netanyahu and Kerry had "productive, in-depth and wide-ranging" talks over a dinner of red tuna.
Kerry "reiterated his strong and sustained commitment to working with all parties to achieve two states, living side-by-side with peace and security," the US official said on condition of anonymity.

Kerry, who met Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman before his brief trip to Occupied al-Quds, is seeking to break a three-year stalemate and restart direct negotiations between the Zionist entity and Palestinian Authority.
Netanyahu earlier set the tone for the meeting by claiming that security was "a basic condition for peace".
"Peace rests on security. It is not based on goodwill or legitimacy as some think. It is based, first and foremost, on our ability to defend ourselves," he told a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of Theodor Herzl, the founding father of Zionism.

"Netanyahu knows there will be a painful evacuation of a number of settlements that are not in the settlement blocs, and that there will be a land swap," Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri told "Israeli" army radio.
"Netanyahu is much more ready than in the past, whether it's for ideological or practical reasons, for an immediate return to the negotiating table," said Peri, of the "Israeli" Yesh Atid party.

The day before Kerry's arrival, an "Israeli" planning committee granted final approval for the construction of 69 new settler units in east of Occupied al-Quds.

On Thursday Britain and France issued statements condemning the move as illegal under international law and liable to jeopardize the so-called "peace" efforts
"Israel is sending message after message to Kerry that settlement is their response to any initiative," senior Palestinian negotiator Hanan Ashrawi told AFP.
"And then they blame the Palestinians for not coming to the negotiating table," she said.

Ashrawi also faulted the United States, saying "Israel's" main international ally "is playing blind and deaf about Israel's actions and its declarations".
A US official said Kerry also spoke to Jordan's King Abdullah about stepping up assistance to the opposition in neighboring Syria.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team