19 Jul 2013

No restart to peace talks with Israel yet by Palestinians

10:28 am on 19 July 2013

Palestinian leaders say they will defer making a decision on restarting peace talks with Israel until they have held further discussions.

They were briefed on Thursday by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the latest American proposal by United States Secretary of State John Kerry.

The BBC reports Mr Kerry has not given details of his plan to revive direct peace talks, which stalled nearly three years ago. However, he has met Mr Abbas in Jordan twice in the past two days.

Mr Kerry has paid six visits to the Middle East in recent months in an effort to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

He has said that time is running out for a two-state solution to their conflict.