BRUSSELS: The Arab League has called an emergency meeting of foreign ministers for April 9 on the floundering US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian, its chief Nabil Al-Arabi announced Wednesday.

The meeting will discuss Israel’s refusal to release Palestinian prisoners, a key sticking point in the negotiations, Arabi told reporters.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry scrambled Wednesday to save his faltering Middle East peace efforts, after both Israel and Palestinians delivered him a stunning slap in the face.

The top US diplomat, who has made the quest for a long-elusive peace treaty his personal holy grail, was blindsided late Tuesday as minutes before a press conference at the NATO headquarters, both sides went rogue.

The Palestinians, infuriated by Israel’s refusal to release some 26 Palestinian prisoners by a weekend deadline, announced out of the blue that they were planning to take their claim for statehood to 15 agencies.

And Israel, having already broken the terms of a July deal to return to the negotiating table, unveiled tenders for 700 more homes in east Jerusalem.

Kerry, who only hours before had held a two-hour breakfast meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem following late-night talks, abruptly canceled plans to fly back to the region Wednesday to see Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

Instead he was working the phones from the secure US mission at NATO, contacting foreign leaders, a senior State Department official said. It was also more than likely he would be conferring with the White House.