Kerry meeting with Palestinian president

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry boards a Jordanian helicopter in Jerusalem en route to Amman, Jordan, to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday, June 29, 2013. On his fifth trip to the Middle East, Kerry met with Abbas for the second time in two days as he continues a rushed round of shuttle diplomacy to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians. He plans to fly back to Jerusalem later in the day for more talks with Israeli officials.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry boards a Jordanian helicopter in Jerusalem en route to Amman, Jordan, to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday, June 29, 2013. On his fifth trip to the Middle East, Kerry met with Abbas for the second time in two days as he continues a rushed round of shuttle diplomacy to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians. He plans to fly back to Jerusalem later in the day for more talks with Israeli officials.

JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday for the second time in two days, continuing his rushed round of shuttle diplomacy to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Kerry is shuttling between meetings in Jerusalem and Amman, Jordan, to find a way to coax both sides back into negotiations to craft a two-state solution to their long-running conflict.

U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials have all declined to disclose details of the talks. "Working hard," is all Kerry would say when a reporter asked him, during a photo-op before the Abbas meeting, whether progress was being made.

For the past three days, Kerry, who is on a two-week swing through the Mideast and Asia, has been conducting meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials at a frenetic pace. A few days ago, Kerry added a stop in Abu Dhabi to his itinerary, but it was later canceled because of his ongoing discussions on the Mideast peace process.

He had a four-hour dinner meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday night in Jerusalem followed by a more than two-hour lunch with Abbas on Friday in Amman at the home of the Palestinian ambassador to Jordan. Then it was back to Jerusalem for another meeting with Netanyahu and dinner with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

On Saturday morning, he boarded a helicopter to fly back to Amman to meet again with Abbas, this time at the Palestinian president's residence there. Later Saturday, he was to return to Jerusalem to meet with Tzipi Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, and Isaac Molho, a Netanyahu envoy.

Kerry is scheduled to leave Jerusalem on Sunday to head to Brunei for a Southeast Asia security conference.

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