IsraeliPalestinian peace possible :Kerry

Israelis and Palestinians can still sign a peace treaty in spite of the difficulties, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday, DPA reported.

"I am convinced there is a road forward. I would say to everyone that I have no illusions about the difficulties, we've seen them," he said as he met Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.

The new US secretary of state arrived in Israel on Sunday as part of the latest attempt to find a way to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

"We all know it's not easy," Kerry told Peres, "but as you said yourself, it can be done."

Peres, who as foreign minister in the early 1990s was instrumental in forging the Israeli-Palestinian interim peace accords, told his guest that "peace is possible."

Peres said he believes the gap between the sides can be bridged and disagreements overcome through negotiations.

"The two-state solution is the best solution and the parameters for that agreement already exist, two states for two peoples - a Jewish state, Israel and an Arab state, Palestine," the Israeli president said.

During the meeting, Kerry also addressed Iran's nuclear weapons drive, which Israelis regard as their biggest existential dilemma, saying the United States understands the threat of a nuclear-armed Tehran.

"As the president has said many times, he doesn't bluff. He is serious and we will stand with Israel against this threat," said Kerry, noting that while the US would continue to seek a diplomatic solution to ending Iran's nuclear ambitions, "our eyes are open and we understand that the clock is moving."

"No-one will allow the diplomatic process to stand in the way of whatever choices need to be taken in order to protect the world from another nuclear weapon in the wrong hands," he warned.

On Sunday, Kerry had visited Ramallah for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

No official statement was issued after that meeting, but reports said the Palestinian leader had remained firm in his demand that Israel halt all construction in its West Bank settlements and in East Jerusalem and also release Palestinian prisoners as a prerequisite for resuming peace talks.

Israel has so far refused these demands, as well as Abbas's request to present a map of the future borders of a Palestinian state. On Monday, the top US diplomat, accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, laid a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Centre, as Israel commemorated its annual holocaust memorial day.

Israel-Palestinian peace talks have effectively been in deep freeze since late 2010.

According to the Ha'aretz daily, Kerry has told Abbas and Netanyahu that he plans to present a proposal for renewing talks between the parties.


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