Shimon Peres meets with John Kerry, November 6th, 2013. Photo: GPO.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry insisted in Israel on Wednesday with his now trademark optimism that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority can lead to a breakthrough.

“I’m convinced from my conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as with President Abbas that this is not mission impossible, this can happen,” Kerry said at a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres at his residence in Jerusalem.

He told Peres that “there is no alternative; there will be chaos, violence, turmoil, confrontation in the absence of peace. You cannot live with perpetual war.”

Thanking Kerry for his efforts in restarting the peace talks, Peres stressed the importance of arriving at a two-solution. “We don’t have as much time as people think… There is no real alternative for them, as there is no real alternative for us,” Peres said.

Turning to Iran, Peres said he was satisfied with America’s handling of the controversy surrounding its nuclear program: “I think the policy the United States has laid down is acceptable; to try to achieve an end to the Iranian attempt to build nuclear bombs preferably economically and politically but the Iranians should know that the alternatives are even more expensive for them.”

Peres also thanked U.S. President Barack Obama for his “unmatched devotion in the face of all the difficulties” in dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue.