US Secretary of State Kerry holds talks with Palestinian President Abbas

      
US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in London on Sunday.            

The meeting is part of ongoing talks Kerry is having with both Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an attempt to resume the long stalled Middle East peace process. No information about the meeting was released.           

The one-on-one meetings are designed to be a confidential way that lets Kerry get a sense of where each side stands on various negotiating issues, define their bottom lines and to get an idea of how it might be possible to bridge the gaps between them.           

Kerry also was supposed to meet with Netanyahu in Rome on this trip, but the Israeli leader decided that with the instability in Syria, it was best to stay home.      

The senior official said a three-way meeting was never planned because that would be premature, and that Kerry and Netanyahu would meet soon.             


AP