Kerry says Israeli-Palestinian peace talks ran into difficulties

PanARMENIAN.Net - Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday, Nov 5, Israeli-Palestinian peace talks ran into difficulties but thought it still possible some agreement could be reached, according to Reuters.

Israeli and Palestinian officials painted a grim picture of the talks resumed under Kerry's tutelage in July after a long stalemate, saying they were going nowhere.

"I come here without any illusions about the difficulties, but I come here determined to work," Kerry said after arriving in Israel ahead of talks on Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"We believe this is something that is possible and that it's good for all and can be achieved," Kerry told a remembrance service for late Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 2005 by a right-wing Israeli opposed to his peacemaking with Palestinians.

Few details have emerged from negotiating sessions between the two sides held at unannounced times and at secret locations in line with pledges to keep a lid on leaks.

But both sides have been airing their frustration over a lack of progress on core issues such as the borders of a Palestinian state, security arrangements, the future of Israeli settlements in occupied territory and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

"The Palestinians are not conducting the talks in good faith," Gideon Saar, the Israeli interior minister told Army Radio. "(The Palestinians) are locked in their positions and are showing no flexibility on their starting positions."

Abbas, in a speech broadcast on Monday, said: "After all the rounds of negotiations there is nothing on the ground."

On the sidelines of the peace talks, Israel has released half of the 104 Palestinian prisoners it pledged to free under a deal Kerry brokered to draw Abbas back to negotiations after a three-year break over Israeli settlement-building.

Israel says continued housing construction in settlements, in areas it intends to keep in any peace accord, was part of those understandings, which led to the return home of long-serving Palestinian inmates convicted of killing Israelis.