WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators would convene again in the Middle East within two weeks and that their goal would be to work out a comprehensive peace agreement within nine months that would lead to an independent Palestinian state.

“The parties have agreed to remain engaged in sustained, continuous and substantive negotiations on the core issues,” Mr. Kerry said at the State Department, flanked by Tzipi Livni, Israel’s justice minister, and Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator.

“Our objective will be to achieve a final status agreement over the course of the next nine months,” Mr. Kerry said. “We all understand the goal that we’re working towards: two states living side by side in peace and security.”

As they resume peace talks that have been moribund since 2010, Mr. Kerry and other Obama administration officials are seeking to counter the widely held perception in the Middle East that President Obama has been detached from the peacemaking effort and that this recent initiative is largely due to the efforts of his secretary of state.