Kerry Meeting with Netanyahu to End Two-Day Visit

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Friday morning  and into the afternoon following his talks with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas Thursday night.

The snowstorm that has literally placed Jerusalem under siege forced Kerry to alter his plan to talk twice with the Prime Minister, once before meeting with Abbas and again afterwards.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon will join Friday’s meeting at some point, indicating that the U.S. proposal for security arrangements in the Jordan Valley will be discussed. Abbas so far has rejected any IDF presence in the Jordan Valley, even for an interim period of several years. Israel reportedly is not happy with the American proposal but has not rejected it.

Kerry arrived in Israel in the middle of the snowstorm late Thursday and plans to fly out to Vietnam later today (Friday).