Ammon News - Telegraph - As America's top diplomat seeks Jordanian and Saudi backing for his peace proposal, Israel has stepped up opposition to leaving an area of the West Bank envisaged as part of a future Palestinian state

Israel intensified its demands to retain military control of a strategic part of the West Bank on Sunday, as John Kerry sought support for his vision of Middle East peace from Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Yuval Steinitz, the Israeli intelligence and strategic affairs minister, insisted Israel must be in charge of security in the Jordan Valley, an area bordering Jordan, even after any agreement that would establish a Palestinian state.

"Security must remain in our hands," Mr Steinitz, a close ally of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, told Israel Radio.

"Anyone who proposes a solution in the Jordan Valley by deploying an international force, Palestinian police or technological means ... does not understand the Middle East."

The comments were the latest sign that disagreements over the valley had the potential to derail a peace proposal being formulated by Mr Kerry, the US secretary of state - who left Israel for Amman, the Jordanian capital, early on Sunday after three days of intensive talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He was due to meet King Abdullah, the Jordanian monarch.

Eight members of Mr Netanyahu's cabinet last week voted in favour of a bill in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, demanding that Israel permanently annex the Jordan Valley, currently home to around 4,500 Jewish settlers.
The Palestinians are staunchly opposed to an Israeli security presence and have proposed an international force instead.

Mr Kerry, who was expected to return to Jerusalem on Sunday evening after also visiting Saudi Arabia, is said to be trying to bridge the divide by suggesting a mixed Israeli-Palestinian force, without setting any deadline for Israel's troops to leave.

The US secretary of state – who faced public protests from Palestinian demonstrators on Friday when he visited Ramallah to meet Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president – said any peace agreement would be "fair and balanced".

His comments followed criticism from both sides – but more vociferously from the Palestinians – that his mediation was biased in favour of the rival party. Mr Kerry is also having to contend with Palestinian opposition to Mr Netanyahu's demands that they should explicitly recognise Israel as a Jewish state.

While referring to his quest as a "puzzle", Mr Kerry voiced optimism on Sunday that his peace efforts were making progress.

"The path is becoming clearer. The puzzle is becoming more defined," he said.

"And it is becoming much more apparent to everybody what the remaining tough choices are. But I cannot tell you when, particularly, the last pieces may decide to fall into place or may fall on the floor and leave the puzzle unfinished."

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestinian official close to the negotiations with Israel, called the ongoing talks "serious", but appeared less optimistic: "I can't say now that there's any actual or substantial progress in all the discussions," he told Voice of Palestine Radio.

Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, added a further complicating factor on Sunday by declaring that he would not support any agreement that did not include a land and population exchange, calling it a "basic condition".

"This is not a transfer. Nobody will be expelled or banished, but the border will move to the other side of Route 6 [Jordan Valley]," he said.

Palestinian negotiators have said they will not accept the transfer of Arab Israeli citizens to a new Palestinian state.