BICOM

US Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Jordan yesterday evening where he will meet with Jordanian officials, representatives of the Arab League and most probably Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.

The US State Department yesterday confirmed that Kerry would travel to Jordan’s capital Amman, where he will meet Jordanian King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh. On Wednesday, he is set to meet with the same Arab League group which gathered in Washington in April, including high-ranking officials from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. At their previous meeting with Kerry, the Arab League appeared to soften its stance on the conditions which could lead to a comprehensive peace agreement with Israel. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Kerry will brief the Arab leaders on his efforts to kick-start peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Although there is no confirmation, it appears likely that PA President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Amman to meet with Kerry, while AP says that an impromptu stop in Jerusalem to meet with Israeli officials has not been ruled out. Psaki said that although “I don’t have any announcements or predictions to make,” she added “The secretary [Kerry] would not be going back to the region if he did not feel there was an opportunity [for] taking steps forward.”

This morning’s Yediot Ahronot suggests that the fact Israel is not on Kerry’s itinerary for this trip is anything but a snub and that it is a reflection that Israel has agreed to all Kerry’s requests to encourage a return to talks and that he has come instead to apply pressure to the PA. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently called for the PA to talk without pre-conditions, but Abbas has insisted that Israel must first freeze all settlement construction, agree to 1967 borders plus swaps and release pre-Oslo prisoners.