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Kerry asks Abbas to clam down tensions with Israel

Xinhua, November 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to help calm the situation on the ground, in reference to the wave of tension with Israel.

Nabil Abu Rdineh, spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, quoted Kerry, who met with Abbas in Ramallah earlier in the evening, as saying that he reiterated on his country's position that backs the two-state solution.

According to a statement published by the Palestinian official news agency (WAFA), Nabil Abu Rdineh said Kerry asked President Abbas to clam down the situation in the Palestinian territories.

Kerry arrived in the region earlier on Tuesday and held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The top U.S. diplomat arrived in Ramallah later in the evening and met with President Abbas.

"The meeting was long, deep and lasted for more than two hours, where both had previewed all the questions that the Palestinians presented to Kerry during the two previous meetings held in New York and in Jordan," said Abu Rdineh.

He also said that President Abbas reiterated to Kerry on the clear and firm Palestinian stance that calls for an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Abbas also stressed that Palestinian prisoners, mainly those were arrested and sentenced before signing Oslo agreements "must be released from Israeli jails, according to Abu Rdineh, adding "both agreed to keep their contacts go on."

Kerry's visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, the first to the region in more than a year, was to defuse a flaring wave of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians that broke out in early October.

The Palestinian health ministry said that 97 Palestinians were killed during clashes with the Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza, while 19 Israelis were killed in a series of shooting and stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians.

The earlier remarks Kerry made when he met on Tuesday with Netanyahu had outraged the Palestinians, mainly when he said "let's work together to put an end to the Palestinian terrorism and bring about calm in the region."

Kerry also said that Israel has the right to defend itself against the Palestinian terrorist assaults, adding that he came to find a way to bring about calm and get rid of terrorism and violence.

Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated in Ramallah against his remarks and against the visit of Kerry to Ramallah. The demonstrators with leaders in Abbas Fatah Party chanted slogans against Kerry and against the United States.

Ahmed Majdalani, the official in Palestine Liberation Organization, stated that the Palestinian side doesn't see any positive signs for resuming the stalled peace process with Israel or at least implement bilateral agreements.

"The information we have is that there has been no real breakthrough in the issues we demanded the United States to discuss with Netanyahu as well as the Palestinian options which were presented to them," he told Xinhua. Endit