Abbas Rejects US Plan, Kerry Meets Netanyahu

Local Editor

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas rejected Friday US proposals for "Israel" to keep troops in a future Palestinian state along its strategic border with Jordan, a Palestinian source said.

Following a meeting on Thursday evening with US Secretary of State John Kerry in the West Bank city of Ramallah, "President Abbas has rejected the ideas presented by the secretary of state," the source said.

Abbas also gave Kerry a letter laying out "Palestinian red lines," the source added.
Meanwhile, Kerry met Friday morning in Occupied al-Quds with "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The two met in a city-center, after the US envoy held more than two hours of talks Thursday evening with Abbas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

No details were released on the content of the Kerry-Abbas meeting, which took place immediately after Kerry's arrival in the region.

It is his ninth trip to the Zionist entity and the West Bank since March, and his second in less than a week.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said earlier this week the US was "focused on a final deal" rather than an interim agreement between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian Authority.

Nine-month direct talks were launched between the sides by Kerry in July.

Last week, he said "we are closer than we have been in years" to reaching a peace deal.
But Palestinians said Kerry's ideas on future security arrangements, which were presented to the Palestinian leadership last week, had provoked a "real crisis".

Source: News agencies, Edited by website team