Amid tense ties between Israel and the United States, Secretary of State John Kerry will meet the chief Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator Monday to discuss how to advance the frozen peace process, AFP reported on Friday.
Kerry will welcome a Palestinian Arab delegation, led by Saeb Erekat, to the State Department for discussions on “the way forward” in a Middle East peace deal and the situation in the Gaza Strip, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.
Kerry would also discuss “lowering tensions in Jerusalem” with the Palestinian team, Psaki said, according to AFP.
Since being appointed to his position, Kerry has tried to lure Israel and the PA back to the negotiating table in pursuit of a peace agreement.
Kerry was able to force the sides into a six-month negotiation period, but the PA torpedoed those talks by requesting to join 15 international agencies in breach of the conditions of the negotiations.
Lately, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has been promoting a unilateral move at the United Nations, as he plans to ask the Security Council to set a timetable to “end the Israeli occupation” and force Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria.
Fatah leader Nabil Shaath recently threatened Israel with a “political war” if there is a negative response to Abbas’s steps at the United Nations. Abbas himself has threatened to cut ties with Israel if his latest unilateral move at the UN fails.
The announcement of Kerry’s meeting with the PA team comes amid tensions between Jerusalem and Washington over Israeli building in Jerusalem, which the U.S. has condemned.
This week, The Atlantic quoted anonymous officials in the Obama administration who launched an unprecedented attack on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and called him – among other things – “chickens**t” and “Aspergery”.
The comments caused an uproar and Kerry on Friday phoned Netanyahu to apologize.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
