DHAKA: US Secretary of State John Kerry threw down a challenge to recalcitrant Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Thursday, saying now was the time when they had to choose whether to make peace.

‘You can facilitate, you can push, you can nudge, but the parties themselves have to make fundamental decisions to compromise,’ Kerry said in Algiers at the start of a trip to North Africa, reports The Straits Times.

‘The leaders have to lead, and they have to be able to see a moment when it’s there,’ he added, showing signs of frustration after his months-long peace efforts appeared to be in tatters.

Negotiating teams from the US, Israel and the Palestinians met late on Wednesday to try to chart a path forward after both sides took steps that Washington has criticised as ‘unhelpful’.

BDST: 1636 HRS, APR 03, 2014