Former US officials say Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned down a regional peace initiative last year that was brokered by then-American Secretary of State John Kerry.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the secret summit was held in Jordan and included Jordan's King Abdullah the second and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. During the meeting, Kerry proposed regional recognition of Israel as a Jewish state alongside a renewal of peace talks with Palestinians with the support of the Arab countries. Netanyahu rejected the offer, which would have required a significant pullout from occupied land, saying he would not be able to garner enough support for it in his hard-line coalition government. The rejection of the offer was in apparent contradiction to Netanyahu’s stated goal of involving regional Arab powers in resolving Israel's conflict with the Palestinians.
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