U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a news conference at Queen Alia International Airport in Jordon on Friday, July 19, 2013.AMMAN, Jordan – Israeli and Palestinian officials will meet soon in Washington to work out final details on relaunching Mideast peace negotiations for the first time in five years, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday.
The announcement fell short of an outright resumption of the negotiations, which would tackle the toughest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But after days of meeting with both sides, Kerry told reporters in the Jordanian capital that they had agreed on “a basis” for the talks.
“We have reached an agreement that establishes the basis for resuming direct final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis,” he said. “This is a significant and welcome step forward.”
“The agreement is still in the process of being formalized,” he said, refusing to give any details on what had been agreed so far. “If everything goes as expected,” Israeli and Palestinians negotiators will hold initial talks “within the next week or so,” he said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who met with Kerry in the West Bank town of Ramallah earlier Friday, said “lengthy talks … have resulted in the Palestinians accepting the resumption of talks.”