AMMAN: US Secretary of State John Kerry extended for a third day yesterday his shuttle diplomacy between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, raising speculation of progress in reviving long dormant peace talks.

On Friday morning Kerry took a helicopter from Jerusalem to Amman where he spent two hours in talks with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas before heading back again for his third meeting in under 48 hours with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Working hard,” Kerry told a reporter who asked if he was making progress as he and Abbas began their second meeting in a many days.

In a potential sign of headway, Kerry canceled a dinner he had scheduled for last night in Abu Dhabi, part of his separate tour in the past week through Gulf states to coordinate support for fighters in Syria’s civil war.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Kerry would still head to a meeting of Asian ministers in Brunei starting tomorrow but called off the Abu Dhabi stop because his “meetings on the peace process remain ongoing.”

US officials have said little on the closed-door discussions, saying public comments would risk the fluid diplomacy. Kerry was expected to speak before leaving the region but Israeli public radio said his failure to hold an expected news conference in Amman on Friday suggested stumbling blocks in the talks.