国际英语新闻:Kerry in Israel attempting to salvage peace talks

JERUSALEM, March 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met late Monday night with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in a last ditch effort to save the deteriorating peace talks.

Kerry landed earlier on Monday evening in an unplanned visit in Israel amid a crisis over the issue of Palestinian prisoners' release, a disagreement which may bring the talks to a complete halt.

Israel delayed the planned release of a group of 26 Palestinian prisoners, scheduled to take place last Saturday, over the right- wing ministers' refusal to include Israeli Arabs citizens as part of the deal.

According to the Ha'aretz daily, Kerry conveyed to Netanyahu a message that the U.S. may release incarcerated American-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who has been incarcerated over espionage charges since 1987, in exchange for Israel agreeing to release 14 Israeli-Arab prisoners.

"There is a possibility that the release of spy Jonathan Pollard will come as part of the deal being worked out right now," a senior official told the daily.

Netanyahu and Kerry have met for more than three hours, with their meeting ending around 11:30 p.m. local time (21:30 GMT), a source at the embassy told Xinhua. Kerry was expected to visit Ramallah and meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas but the meeting has been apparently postponed to Tuesday morning.

Palestinian sources, however, reported that Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat made his way to Jerusalem on Monday night to meet with Kerry there.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority resumed peace talks after a three year halt last July. Amid the renewal of the talks, the Israeli government agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners. It has released 78 thus far.