Kerry offers halt to east Jerusalem settlement construction to resume peace talks

America's top diplomat John F. Kerry offered a three-month halt to the Jewish settlement construction in Eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank in a meeting in Jordan on Wednesday with  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in order to resumePalestinian-Israeli peace negotiations and lasting solution, al-Fatah sources said. Kerry reportedly pledged Abbas US guarantee for the implementation of the proposal, sources added. Abbas was expected to meet with his top aides on Thursday to assess the US proposal. The US state secretary also met with representatives of the Arab League on Wednesday in Amman on his sixth trip to the Middle East since he was sworn in as top US diplomat last February. The Palestinian leader has rejected negotiations unless all West Bank settlement construction stopped, a demand which Israel has refused, defying any conditions for negotiations to resume.