Kerry Continues Push for Israeli-Palestinian Deal
Secretary of State John Kerry is continuing to push for an agreement on a framework for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
The State Department said he held a second day of talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris, Thursday.
The Israelis and Palestinians agreed to resume talks last summer with a goal of reaching a peace deal in nine months. Since they haven't made progress, the new goal is simply to agree on an outline for negotiations.
There's been no official reports on results from Kerry's two days of meetings in Paris, but a senior Palestinian official addressed his his side's stance before the meeting in a statement published by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
"We will not accept any agreement, whether a framework or a final deal, unless it includes the firm Palestinian and Arab positions that are based on international resolutions," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a top aide to Abbas.
On Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Kerry would address recent derogatory comments about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
"We've said all along that it's important to create a positive atmosphere around these discussions, that personal attacks, quite frankly, are unhelpful," she told reporters. "The secretary will make clear that these kinds of comments are disappointing, that they are unhelpful, especially coming from someone involved in the negotiations, indeed the lead negotiator."
