U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is traveling to Israel on Monday as part of the latest effort to forge a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Kerry is flying from Paris – where he had discussed the Ukraine crisis with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the weekend – into Tel Aviv, with possible meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah over the next day, a senior State Department official said.
Kerry tried to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process eight months ago, aiming to get a deal leading to the two states coexisting peacefully.
So far, the process has included a series of meetings along with incremental steps intended to build trust, such as prisoner releases. However, Kerry’s initial goal of an agreement by the end of April has morphed into a possible framework for further talks through the end of 2014.
Psaki said Kerry decided it would be productive to return to the region this week after consulting with a U.S. team that is negotiating with the Israelis and the Palestinians to end their decades-long conflict.