Abbas, Peres to meet at WEF summit

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas could meet with his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, on the sidelines of an upcoming World Economic Forum summit in Amman, local media has reported. Meetings would likely be attended by Jordan’s King Abdullah II and US Secretary of State John Kerry during the economic conference. The news comes as the Palestinian president expressed his willingness to resume negotiations with Israel providing Israel can maintain a freeze on settlement activity in East Jerusalem and the Occupied Territories. Kerry will return to the Middle East next week, visiting Oman on Tuesday and the Jordanian capital on Wednesday. The leading US diplomat will also visit Jerusalem and Ramallah on Thursday for talks with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz has reported. The US official has pledged to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict and determine a political solution to the Syrian conflict, according to a State Department statement.