US Secretary of State John Kerry called yesterday for Israel and the Palestinians to make “reasonable compromises” for peace as he prepared to preside over their first direct negotiations in nearly three years.

“It is no secret this is a difficult process. If it were easy, it would have happened a long time ago,” Kerry said with his newly named envoy for Israeli-Palestinian peace, former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, at his side.

“It is no secret, therefore, that many difficult choices lie ahead for the negotiators and for the leaders as we seek reasonable compromises on tough, complicated, emotional and symbolic issues,” Kerry told reporters.

In a sign of the challenges, the parties differed in public about the agenda for the talks, with an Israeli official saying all issues would be discussed simultaneously and a Palestinian official saying they would start with borders and security.

The United States is seeking to broker an agreement on a “two-state solution” in which Israel would exist peacefully alongside a new Palestinian state created in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, lands occupied by the Israelis since a 1967 war.

The major issues that need to be resolved to bring an end to more than six decades of conflict include borders, the future of Jewish settlements on the West Bank, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem.

The resumption of peace talks is an achievement for Kerry, who made six trips to the region in the past four months to get the two sides to the table. The talks, slated to last nine months, were set to begin over dinner at the State Department yesterday and continue today. In a statement, US President Barack Obama urged both sides to negotiate in good faith.

“The most difficult work of these negotiations is ahead, and I am hopeful that both the Israelis and Palestinians will approach these talks in good faith and with sustained focus and determination,” President Obama said.