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Kerry hopping between Netanyahu, Abbas during Mideast visit

29 June 2013 17:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been biding his time between Jerusalem and Amman in hopes of achieving progress in the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, APA reports quoting XInhua.

After passing twice from Israel to Jordan to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the past 48 hours of his fifth visit in three months, Kerry is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the third time since Thursday in Jerusalem on Saturday evening.

A source in Jerusalem told Xinhua that it seems that the meeting between Kerry and Netanyahu on Saturday may lead to "a significant progress in the efforts to resume the peace process."

So far, no statements have been issued by either side regarding Kerry and Netanyahu's first two meetings and no information has been reported.

Kerry was scheduled to conduct a press conference in Amman on Saturday noon. However, it was postponed due to his planned return to Jerusalem to meet with Netanyahu.

Jordanian media on Saturday morning said Kerry has agreed with Netanyahu and Abbas to conduct a four-way summit, with members representing Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and the United States, which may be held next week in Amman.

According to a report on the Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab Al-Yum, the Palestinians agreed to attend the summit after Israel has agreed to freeze its construction in the settlements, release Palestinian prisoners locked up from prior to the 1993 Oslo Accords and determine the borders of the future Palestinian state.