BICOM

US Secretary of State John Kerry began a brief tour to the region yesterday, stopping in Turkey before meeting Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, ahead of talks with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today.

Kerry is embarking on a period of shuttle diplomacy between Jerusalem and Ramallah, in an effort to enable Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume direct talks. He is believed to be looking to establish confidence-building measures between the two sides prior to presenting a proposal for a return to negotiations. Reuters reports that Kerry met with Abbas for around an hour and a half yesterday evening, but both sides agreed not to discuss the specifics of the meeting. A US official simply said “Secretary Kerry and President Abbas discussed the path to peace and they agreed to continue working together to determine the best path forward.”

However, the Times of Israel reports Kerry suggested to Abbas that Israel could transfer control of further West Bank land to the PA in return for an agreement to resume negotiations. According to the report, Abbas rejected the idea, insisting that Israel must announce a moratorium on settlement construction and release Palestinian prisoners as a precondition to talks. Haaretz suggests Abbas also asked for Israel to present a plan on borders prior to talks.

Kerry also visited the Turkish capital Istanbul yesterday, meeting with Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and called for the “full relationship” between Israel and Turkey to “be embraced,” describing relations between the two countries as “critical to the peace process.” Two weeks ago, Netanyahu paved the way for normalisation of ties between the two countries, apologising to Erdogan for an incident in 2010 which resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish activists after Israeli commandos had boarded a Gaza-protest boat.