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The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday met the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in London, seeking to ease the diplomatic tensions over a possible Palestinian bid at the UN to end the "occupation" on the territories occupied by Israel.
Late on Sunday night, the Palestinian leadership, which convened in Ramallah, declared that it decided to apply to the UN Security Council on Wednesday for ending the occupation on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
At a press conference in London Tuesday, Kerry said the United States has not "made any determinations" in terms of what type of UN resolution his country would seek to support.
"We've made no determinations other than that about any - about language, approaches, specific resolutions, any of that," he said.
He added that the United States is trying to "have a constructive conversation with everybody...to go back to negotiations and resolve this politically."
Speaking of the prospect of the Middle East peace process, the top U.S. diplomat said it is not "up to the international community or others" to decide the matter. "This has to be decided by the parties. The parties have to want this more than anybody outside, and the parties have to make key decisions that can lead to the resolution," he said.
Kerry also stressed that nobody should "interfere" in Israel's forthcoming elections.
"We believe very deeply that nobody should somehow interfere or do something that might be perceived of as interfering in the course of that election," he said.
On Sunday, he met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Rome to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including recent developments in Israel, the West Bank, Jerusalem and the region, as well as current initiatives at the UN.
He also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss a number of issues, including recent developments in Israel, the West Bank, and Jerusalem and the region before traveling to France and Britain for further meetings and discussions.
In 2011, the Palestinians failed to gain a full consensus at the UN Security Council. However, this time, they believe that another try may succeed, and in case it doesn't succeed, they will go for joining the international agencies and treaties, Jamil Shehada, member in Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said earlier. Enditem
