U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held talks Monday in Rome with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the first leg of a trip to assess the current state of Israeli-Palestinian issues.
The meeting came as Palestinian officials push for a U.N. resolution that would call for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory within two years. A Jordanian-drafted resolution could be introduced at the U.N. Security Council this week.
After meeting with Netanyahu, Kerry plans to travel to Paris for talks with his counterparts from France, Britain and Germany. On Tuesday, he has scheduled talks with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby in London.
A senior State Department official said Kerry's goal is to hear what everyone has to say and work on a common path forward, while keeping open the prospect of a two-state solution.
But the official said the U.S. does not believe a resolution calling for a hard deadline is the right way to resolve "a very complicated security negotiation."
The official told reporters that type of solution is "not consistent" with the discussions that have taken place with the Israelis and Palestinians during peace negotiations, which broke down in April after nine months.
