Kerry extends visit, will meet again with Netanyahu, Abbas

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday he was “pleased” with his discussions among Israeli and Palestinian leaders this week as he scrambled to salvage faltering peace talks in a furious round of shuttle diplomacy.

Kerry said in a joint interview with Israeli and Palestinian TV networks that he will now see Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas again Thursday night in Amman and then return to Jerusalem on Friday for a third meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in two days before continuing with his swing through the Middle East and North Africa in the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Morocco.

“We’ve created some clarity on some of the points,” Kerry told Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Amman on Thursday. “I was pleased,” he added.

Netanyahu and Kerry met on Wednesday in Jerusalem. In a joint statement that focused on the Iranian nuclear issue, the prime minister urged Kerry to avoid “partial deals” with Iran and keep strengthening US economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic, which could force the country to “fully dismantle its nuclear weapons program.”

Kerry, also on Wednesday, met with Abbas in Bethlehem, where the US pledged an additional $75 million in aid for the Palestinians, earmarked for infrastructure and educational programs. The funds, an official said, were designed to show the Palestinians a tangible result from the peace process.

On Thursday, Kerry landed in Amman, which was supposed to be the final stop in his two-day Middle East trip. He had not originally been scheduled to return to Israel.

Kerry brokered the re-start of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which began three months ago. But little progress has been made in the talks, which are supposed to produce an agreement by the end of April 2014.

Kerry has been hit with complaints from both sides during his trip while working to maintain an optimistic tone. On Wednesday he noted that in any negotiation “there will be moments of up and moments of down.”

Tensions have been running high after Palestinians said a secret negotiating session on Tuesday broke down in a dispute over Israeli settlement construction.

US-brokered talks for Israeli-Palestinian peace began at Kerry’s behest three months ago. Both sides have remained largely quiet on the negotiations but there has been little, if any, progress evident.

The stalemate has prompted speculation that the US may need to increase its involvement in the talks and present its own outline for peace — or lower expectations and pursue a more limited, interim agreement.