Secretary of State John Kerry has cancelled his planned trip to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday after the Palestinian leader signed a "State of Palestine" application seeking U.N. recognition.
Abbas signed the application asking to join 15 different U.N. agencies in an attempt to further Palestine's recognition.
The move could derail negotiations over peace talks with Israel. It comes just a day after the United States said it may release an Israeli prisoner as a part of a deal to continue those talks.
Jonathan Pollard was convicted of spying on the United States on behalf of Israel in 1987. He's already served more than 25 years of his life sentence.
Now the U.S. may set him free to get Israel to release 400 Palestinian prisoners and resume negotiations.
Kerry had planned to visit Abbas's West Bank headquarters in hopes of a breakthrough.
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