Netanyahu Says Palestinians Creating 'Artificial Crises' and Kerry Reassures 'Settlements Are Illegitimate'

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday accused the Palestinians of creating "artificial crises" in nascent peace talks and called on Washington to get the negotiations back on track.

"I am concerned about progress because I see the Palestinians continuing with incitements, to create artificial crises ... and run away from strong decisions that are needed to make a genuine peace," Netanyahu said at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Jerusalem.

"I hope your visit will help steer them back to a place where we could achieve the historical peace that we seek," he told Kerry.

The Palestinians threatened Tuesday night to bolt the talks, after a stormy meeting between negotiators from both sides in Jerusalem, with a Palestinian official telling Agence France Presse the negotiations had "broken down."

Netanyahu told Kerry at the start of their meeting Wednesday that the Israelis were "scrupulously" standing by the terms of the U.S.-brokered deal under which Israeli-Palestinian negotiations were relaunched in late July after a three-year hiatus.

Acknowledging the tensions and difficulties, Kerry insisted: "I am very confident of our ability to work through them."

"This can be achieved with good faith and a serious effort on both sides," he said, adding that with "real compromises and hard decisions this can be achieved."

Kerry later met in Bethlehem with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, before returning to Jerusalem for talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres and a private dinner with Netanyahu.

He reaffirmed after the talks Washington's rejection of Israeli settlement activity on Palestinian land as "illegitimate."

"We consider now, and have always considered, the settlements to be illegitimate," Kerry said.

"I want to make it extremely clear that at no time did the Palestinians in any way agree, as a matter of going back to the talks, that they could somehow condone or accept the settlements," Kerry said.

"That is not to say that they weren't aware -- or we weren't aware -- that there would be construction," he added.

His remarks related to a bitter row that has erupted over Israeli moves during the past week to push ahead with construction of more than 3,700 new settler homes.

Several Israeli officials have claimed the settlement announcements were in keeping with tacit "understandings" between the two sides linked to the release last week of 26 veteran Palestinian prisoners.

Their comments sparked furious denials from the Palestinians.

"The Palestinians believe the settlements are illegal. The United Sates continue to believe the settlements are not helpful," Kerry said.

After months of cajoling, Kerry persuaded Israel and the Palestinians to reopen peace talks in late July after a nearly five-year break.

The parties have largely honored Kerry's request to keep the content of the negotiations secret. But officials on both sides have acknowledged that no progress has been made, though they say that the talks have addressed all key issues at the core of the dispute. These include defining the borders of a future Palestine, and addressing Israeli security demands.

The Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. They say they're willing to adjust those borders to allow Israel to keep some West Bank settlements as part of a "land swap."

Netanyahu opposes a withdrawal to Israel's pre-1967 lines, saying such borders would be indefensible.

He has also demanded that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland, a condition they reject on the grounds that it would harm the rights of Israel's Arab minority and Palestinian refugees who claim lost properties inside what is now Israel. Netanyahu also rejects shared control of east Jerusalem, home to key religious sites and the Palestinians' hoped-for capital.