DHAKA: US state secretary John Kerry will hold talks on Wednesday with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to try to keep the peace process from collapsing, urging them to reach a long-elusive deal.

Only a few hours after Kerry arrived on Tuesday in Israel on a new mission to bring the two sides together, a Palestinian official said peace negotiations have stumbled.

The official said the Palestinians would refuse to continue participating in direct talks as long as Israel fails to halt settlement building.

In a dramatic, symbolic message, Kerry headed first for the Tel Aviv square where Israel’s prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated 18 years ago to honour the memory of ‘a great man of peace’.

BDST: 1331 HRS, NOV 06, 2013
RoR/JCK