US Secretary of State John Kerry admitted on Thursday there was skepticism about his bid to broker new talks between Zionists and Palestinians on his fourth visit to the region.
US Secretary of State John Kerry admitted on Thursday there was skepticism about his bid to broker new talks between Zionists and Palestinians on his fourth visit to the region.
Flying in from a night of diplomacy in Amman over the war in Syria, Kerry went straight into talks with Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before travelling to the West Bank to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Despite public pronouncements of support, there is a growing frustration that there has been little sign of a shift in the long-held positions of both sides.
Kerry, who last week was the subject of a scathing portrait in the Zionist daily Haaretz which called him "a naive and ham-handed diplomat who has been acting like a bull in the china shop," acknowledged the difficulties ahead.
"I know this region well enough to know there is skepticism, in some quarters there is cynicism and there are reasons for it. There have been bitter years of disappointment," he said.
But he insisted: "It is our hope that by being methodical, careful, patient, but detailed and tenacious, that we can lay on a path ahead that can conceivably surprise people and certainly exhaust the possibilities for peace."
Kerry met Abbas in Ramallah for more than two hours.
The US diplomat "provided a detailed update on ideas to strengthen the Palestinian economy the Quartet has been working on with members of the private sector," a State Department official said, asking not to be named.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, also visiting the occupying entity, backed Kerry's efforts.
"The Middle East peace process is... an urgent priority for the United Kingdom and to the world," he said.
After whirlwind talks on Thursday and Friday, Kerry will return to the region on Sunday to attend the World Economic Forum in Amman.
Abbas has also been invited to the forum, and it is possible Kerry could unveil then his plans for the economic revival of the occupied West Bank.
