PARIS: US Secretary of State John Kerry held “constructive” talks in Paris with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, meeting twice in less than 24 hours, a US official said yesterday.
The two men met yesterday for two hours with their teams exchanging Abbas’s Ramallah headquarters where they normally meet for an upscale hotel where the Palestinian leader also hosted Kerry for dinner on Wednesday.
The top US diplomat has spent months trying to get the Israelis and the Palestinians to agree on a framework for resolving their conflict, but the negotiations have shown little sign of progress, with each side blaming the other.
They met “to continue their constructive conversations on a framework for negotiations,” a State Department official said.
“As they did last night, they discussed all of the core issues and agreed to stay in close touch over the phone and through their teams on the ground in the coming days and weeks,” the official added.
Palestinian ambassador to Paris, Hael Al Fahum, told Voice of Palestine radio that Abbas “had outlined his vision of a peace which is based on international law”.
The Palestinian leader also insisted there could be no deal without east Jerusalem as the capital of a state of Palestine and “a resolution of all the issues, in particular security, refugees and the release of prisoners”.
AFP
