Summary John Kerry said Friday he hoped to help achieve final Mideast peace deal.
JERUSALEM (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday he hoped to help achieve a peace agreement encompassing Israeli security needs and Palestinian sovereignty, as he wrapped up his regional visit.
But Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas dampened hopes by rejecting US proposals for Israel to keep a military presence in a future Palestinian state.
"We are working on an approach that both guarantees Israel's security and fully respects Palestinian sovereignty," Kerry told reporters in Tel Aviv before boarding a plane to Vietnam.
Kerry insisted the goal remained for the sides "to reach a final status agreement - not an interim agreement", and said Israel will release as planned a new group of Palestinian prisoners on December 29.
"Both parties remain committed to fulfilling their obligations to stay at the table and negotiate hard during the nine-month period that we set for that" when talks were launched at the end of July, said Kerry.
On Friday morning, Kerry met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for what the Israeli premier described as a discussion on how to "advance our goals of peace and security."
Kerry, who completed his second visit to the region within a week, said that US military expert General John Allen outlined in talks with Abbas a security plan for the West Bank and Israel, which could be implemented following a peace accord.
But Abbas rejected US proposals for Israel to keep a military presence in a future Palestinian state along its strategic border with Jordan, a source close to the Palestinian president told AFP.
"President Abbas has rejected the ideas presented by the secretary of state," the Palestinian source said earlier Friday, a day after Kerry met Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
