| Local Editor | ||||
| US Secretary of State John Kerry made a last-minute push on Sunday to revive “peace talks” as Zionist media said that days of exhaustive shuttle diplomacy had failed to break the deadlock. Kerry has spent 13 hours with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since Thursday, with the latest session between the two allies and their aides in the old city of Al-Quds.  Kerry was scheduled to head to Ramallah in the West Bank on Sunday morning to consult for the third day in a row with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a US official said. His previous two meetings with Abbas took place in Amman.Israel's army radio painted a grim picture of Kerry's initiative, saying that he has apparently failed in his goal of coaxing the sides back into direct negotiations after a gap of nearly three years. The Palestinian leader is pushing the Zionist entity to free the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners as a sign of commitment to peace, to remove roadblocks in the West Bank and to publicly agree to making the borders that existed before the 1967 Middle East war the baseline for negotiations. Army radio said that Netanyahu was willing to consider just the first two conditions -- but only after talks were under way, and even then in stages. So far, Israel has flatly refused to countenance any return to the 1967 borders. Army radio also said that despite Kerry's efforts, an Israeli committee was likely to push through a big discount for buyers of nearly 1,000 new homes which are due to be built in annexed east Al-Quds. The committee is due to meet on the issue on Monday. | ||||
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Kerry in Last-Minute Push on “Peace Process”, 1000 New Settler Homes being built
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