Kerry in talks with Israeli FM

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry welcomes Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to Washington, D.C. for talks. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

Published

about 4 years ago

Categories

World

Topics

Middle East & North Africa, International Relations, World

People

John Kerry, Avigdor Lieberman

Places

Syria, Iran, United States of America, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Washington, D.C.

Transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday (April 9) welcomed Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to Washington, D.C. where the two are to discuss a wide range of regional issues. In welcoming Lieberman, Kerry told reporters the two will talk about the Mideast peace process as well as other issues including the Iran nuclear negotiations and the situation in Syria. "The region faces enormous challenges," Kerry said. "Syria remains a humanitarian catastrophe and it has a profound impact on Israel, on Jordan, on Lebanon, on the region," he said. Lieberman said he believes both Israel and the U.S. have the same desire to achieve a "comprehensive...final status agreement" in the peace talks with the Palestinians, and that Israel's commitment goes beyond "lip service". "We are ready to sacrifice a lot for this goal," he told reporters with Kerry. A U.S. mediator has held a series of meetings over the past week to try to push the troubled Mideast peace talks past an original April 29 deadline for a deal. Kerry's meeting with the Israeli Foreign Minister comes the same day Israel announced a partial freeze in high-level contacts with the Palestinians and also threatened economic steps after they signed international conventions, deepening a crisis menacing the U.S.-brokered peace talks. The order does not apply to Israel's chief peace negotiator, or to defense and security officials.