Bloomberg News
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is returning on a surprise trip to the Middle East as time runs out on breaking an Israeli-Palestinian impasse.
Kerry is trying to craft a formula for extending nine months of peace talks due to expire at the end of April. With the already troubled negotiations stumbling most recently over an overdue Israeli release of Palestinian prisoners, that deadline is looming large.
Kerry changed his travel plans today to squeeze in a last-minute visit to Israel and the West Bank, deciding 'it would be productive to return to the region,' spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
'The Israelis and Palestinians have both made tough choices,' Psaki told reporters traveling with Kerry. 'It's important they remember that only peace will bring the Israeli and Palestinian people both the security and economic prosperity they all deserve.'
Kerry is sandwiching the overnight trip between talks with the Russian foreign minister in Paris and a meeting with foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization tomorrow. His broader mission is to get the sides to agree on guidelines for conducting concrete talks on the peace treaty they've been negotiating for more than 20 years.
Palestinian leaders have threatened to quit negotiations if the prisoner release, originally scheduled for March 29, is further postponed. Some of Netanyahu's coalition partners say they will quit the cabinet if he goes ahead with the release Israel agreed to earlier, which could cause his government to collapse.
To contact the reporter on this story: Terry Atlas in Paris at tatlas@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net Amy Teibel
Posted by Unknown on Monday, March 31, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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