Kerry on 2nd Day of ME Talks: Mission Possible

Local Editor

US Secretary of State John Kerry launched a second day of talks with "Israelis" and Palestinians Friday, seeking to hammer out a framework to guide negotiations towards a peace deal.

American officials have privately said they believe the direct talks resumed in July after a three-year hiatus have reached a new phase, as an April deadline for an accord looms, but are struggling to overcome fierce opposition from both sides to any compromises.

Kerry returned to the Zionist entity on Thursday for his 10th trip as secretary of state, and went straight into five hours of meetings with "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The two men were to meet again around noon on Friday, after Kerry and his team first met with "Israeli" Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
The top US diplomat will later head to Ramallah for discussions with Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas at his headquarters in the occupied West Bank.
But Netanyahu on Thursday was downbeat on the progress of talks, launching a scathing attack on Abbas and casting doubt on whether he and the Palestinians were genuine in their desire for so-called "peace".

Kerry vowed the United States was committed to working with both sides "to narrow the differences on a framework that will provide the agreed guidelines for permanent status negotiations."
"This will take time and it will take compromise from both sides. But an agreed framework would be a significant breakthrough."
The framework would set out the agreements and disagreements on the core issues dividing the two sides, including the contours of a future Palestinian state, refugees, the fate of al-Quds, security, "mutual recognition and the end of conflict and of all claims," Kerry said.

"It would address all of the core issues. It would create the fixed, defined parameters by which the parties would then know where they are going and what the end result can be," he added.
Meanwhile, "Israeli" warplanes carried out a series of strikes in the Gaza Strip early Friday, the army said.
A statement from the occupation army said: "In response to rocket fire toward "Israel"," its "aircraft targeted a terror infrastructure site in the central Gaza Strip and three concealed rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip."

"Direct hits were confirmed," the statement read.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from Friday's strikes, but Palestinian medics said a 16-year-old shot near the border fence Thursday had been martyred from his wounds.
Kerry was also to meet Friday morning with US Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who are visiting Tel Aviv.

Kerry told Netanyahu on Thursday that he believed a long-elusive deal to end the decades-old Middle East conflict was not "mission impossible."

"The possibilities provided by "peace" are dramatic and they are worth struggling for," Kerry insisted.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team