May 3, 2013

WASHINGTON (JTA) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Tzipi Livni, the Israeli justice minister, and  Yitzhak Molcho, the top Israeli peace negotiator, to discuss Arab-led efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks.

“This opportunity was part of the Secretary’s ongoing discussions with Israeli and Palestinian officials, and Arab and European officials who have much at stake as well, to explore possible ways forward to resolve this conflict,” Patrick Ventrell, a State Department spokesman, said Thursday after the meeting. Kerry met earlier this week with an Arab League delegation and praised its reaffirmation of the 2002 Arab peace initiative, which offers Israel peace in exchange for a return to 1967 lines.

Livni, designated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lead any revived talks, this week praised the initiative.

“The broader issue is that we’ve seen several positive developments this week,” Ventrell said. “We’ve seen Minister Livni’s remarks in the press, and so we think that there’s been several positive developments and the secretary is going to continue his discussion going forward.”

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