Kerry to meet Abbas Saturday to talk peace prospects
Top US diplomat, Palestinian leader will convene in Paris, discuss creating 'conditions for a two-state solution,’ US says
US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris on Saturday.
The purpose of the meeting is “to talk about the prospects toward helping us create conditions for a two-state solution,” State Department spokesperson John Kirby said Thursday. “There is a possibility that there could be additional bilateral meetings while in Paris… but the primary purpose is a meeting with President Abbas.”
Kerry was meant to meet Abbas in Paris last Friday evening, but the meeting was canceled following news of the death of the PA president’s brother the day before. The funeral was held on Friday.
“I talked to him last night… he and I will meet somewhere shortly after the period of mourning,” Kerry said at the time.
Instead of meeting with Abbas, Kerry went on a private visit to Nice and met with an American who was injured in the devastating terror attack there.
Kerry is flying back to Paris from the Philippines, which was meant to have been the last stop on his current trip. He returns to the US on Sunday.
The Israeli-Palestinian peace process collapsed two years ago, and progress currently appears unlikely before President Barack Obama’s final term ends in January.
In June, France convened a Paris meeting of world powers — without Israel or the Palestinians — to work toward organizing an international conference to reboot talks by the end of the year.
After June’s meeting, Kerry was lukewarm concerning the prospects of a conference. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the French initiative, which the Palestinians welcomed.
The Middle East diplomatic quartet — the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States — urged Israel to stop building settlements and Palestinians to cease incitement to violence in a July report that drew a frosty response from both sides.
Before talks with Abbas, with whom Kerry last met in Amman in February, the US diplomat will stop Friday in Vienna to help kick off high-level talks on combating climate change.
AFP contributed to this report.