Following his meeting with Netanyahu, which lasted more than an hour and a half, Kerry met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in West Jerusalem.
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A Palestinian, identified by the health ministry as 16-year-old Khalil Hashash, was shot dead when trying to stab an Israeli soldier near Huwara to the south of Nablus.
Erekat said if nothing concrete comes out of the meetings with Kerry, the Palestinians could move forward on changing longstanding links with Israel, including security coordination.
Security camera footage appeared to show the girls – apparently cousins aged 14 and 16 – in school uniform chasing a man with scissors before being shot by a member of the security forces.
None of the leaders themselves offered any encouragement that peace might be possible right now.
“There can be no peace when we have an onslaught of terror, not here, not anywhere else”, Netanyahu said as he welcomed the chief American diplomat.
Israel occupied the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, where Palestinians wish to establish a state according to the two-state solution, in the 1967 Mideast War. Nineteen Israelis have been killed, mostly in stabbings.
At least 93 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis since the beginning of October.
The Israeli soldier, 18-year-old Pte Ziv Mizrahi, died at the scene. Kerry mentioned Schwartz twice by name. Ahead of his trip, Kerry conceded he was coming without the ambitious agenda of past visits and was primarily focused on stemming the violence.
On Monday, the U.N.-declared International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Abbas unleashed a litany of accusations against Israel.
The Palestinians are also frustrated by the failure of decades of peace talks to deliver them an independent state.
The reports, however, did not indicate what these gestures would entail, but said that such assurances is the only way Netanyahu will be able to provide gestures to the Palestinians amid the far-right makeup of his government. Israel says many of those were killed while carrying out attacks.
Eliasson underlined that “illegal settlement activities and settler-related violence, demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures have continued, including punitive demolitions”. The official said Israel would not agree to any freeze in settlement construction.
The comments came amid reports that Israel was weighing the freeing up of hundreds of hectares in Area C – which comprises some 60 percent of Judea and Samaria – for Palestinian projects.
Shortly before Kerry and Netanyahu convened in Jerusalem, a Palestinian drove his auto into three Israeli soldiers and a paramilitary border policeman along a road in the occupied West Bank, injuring all four, the army said.
Later on Tuesday, Kerry also held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Holding up a collage of photos of Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told the UN General Assembly on November 23 that “Israeli blood is no less valuable than French blood”.
Shabib noted that Obama has clearly stated that “Palestinians and Israelis won’t reach a comprehensive final status agreement in the remainder of his term”, which eliminates hope of any serious and meaningful peace process in the region.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials are not expecting any new ideas from Kerry to calm the situation. But the rising death toll seems, for now, to have created an environment that makes a similar commitment by President Barack Obama unlikely.
“Israel has every right in the world to defend itself, and has an obligation to defend itself”.
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The latest peace talks collapsed previous year.
