US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel on Tuesday
at 5:30 p.m., some 19 hours before US President Barack Obama was
scheduled to arrive on Wednesday.
Kerry did not have any
meetings planned before the arrival of the president, whom he will
accompany during his 50 hour trip to Israel and the West Bank.
On
Friday, the secretary of state will travel with Obama to Jordan, but
then unlike Obama who will fly from Jordan back to Washington, Kerry is
scheduled to return to Israel for a Saturday night dinner meeting with
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to follow up on the president's trip.
He will leave Israel later that night.
Click here for full JPost coverage of Obama's visit to Israel
On
Tuesday, Water and Energy Minister Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio that
Jerusalem had discussed restarting the peace process even before the
January 22 elections. He echoed statements made both by Prime Minister
Netanyahu and former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman, that Israel
expects the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table without
preconditions.
Police will close Highway 1 leading to Jerusalem
on Tuesday afternoon from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m following Kerry's
arrival. On Friday, the road will be closed off entirely during
President Obama's visit.
JPost.com staff contributed to this report.
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