Jerusalem, June 29 (IANS) US Secretary of State John Kerry may soon announce a peace summit to renew negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, a media report said Saturday.
“There is a high probability that a four-way summit will take place, perhaps as soon as this week,” Israel’s Ha’aretz daily cited an unnamed Israeli official as saying.
The report said the summit will take place in Jordan’s capital Amman, with the participation of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the US and Jordan.
Xinhua cited two Jordanian newspapers, Ad-Dustour and Al-Arab Al-Yawm, as reporting a possible breakthrough in the talks.
According to the reports, Kerry conveyed the Israeli response to the demands of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, saying that Israel agrees to a gradual release of Palestinian prisoners.
Kerry was scheduled to arrive in Amman Saturday to meet Abbas.
On Friday, Kerry held a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and also met President Shimon Peres.
This is the fifth time Kerry is visiting the Middle East in a bid to resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Peace talks came to a halt in 2010 over Israel’s ongoing settlement construction in the West Bank.
