Kerry returning to Mideast

Published 10:13 am Thursday, December 12, 2013

WASHINGTON — Continuing a furious pace of shuttle diplomacy aimed at securing an elusive Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by spring, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in the Middle East on Thursday on his ninth trip of the year.

In closed-door talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday and Friday, Kerry will be following up on elements of a West Bank security plan, ideas for which he unveiled on his most recent visit to the region just last week, and other points of potential progress. Kerry’s latest visit comes amid Palestinian unhappiness with the security plan and few, if any, tangible signs of progress.

“This is an ongoing discussion,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday, two days after Kerry met with each side’s top negotiators in Washington. “Certainly we expect they will talk about security, as they will discuss other issues.”

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Kerry, along with special U.S. Mideast peace envoy Martin Indyk, met separately and then together for about three hours Monday with chief Israeli negotiator Tippi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart, Saeb Erekat, Psaki said. Livni and Erekat were in Washington for a Mideast conference in which President Barack Obama, Netanyahu and Kerry all participated. Kerry also spoke Wednesday by phone with Netanyahu.

On Monday, though, a senior Palestinian official railed against U.S. attempts to broker a broad outline of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, saying Kerry is breaking a promise to try to negotiate a final agreement in the current round of talks.