Kerry and Netanyahu yesterday
On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry was reminded by Jordan’s Foreign Minister that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is “the lingering and central core issue.” Yesterday, Kerry met with Israeli leaders for whom the matter is less urgent.
Here are excerpts from Kerry’s statements yesterday on committing to making peace between Israel and Palestine. Note that he praises Netanyahu for doing the “homework” given to him by President Obama in March, presumably a reference to Netanyahu’s freezing tenders for settlement construction– a gesture that will actually mean “no noticeable break” in actual construction.
And notice the implicit criticism of Israelis in Kerry’s comments before meeting with Shimon Peres. They don’t wake up in the morning thinking about peace, it’s not on the tip of everybody’s tongue, they’re too prosperous.
First the Peres remarks:
No one knows better than you the complications and difficulties of trying to end years of conflict and trying to bring people with a long history of not trusting each other and of disappointments and of conflict, and trying to bridge that divide. I am convinced, with great humility, that this moment is a really critical one for the region and particularly for Israel, for Palestine, for Jordan. I think there is an opportunity. But for many reasons, it’s not on the tip of everybody’s tongue. People in Israel aren’t waking up every day and wondering if tomorrow there’ll be peace, because there is a sense of security and a sense of accomplishment and a sense of prosperity.
But I think if you look over the horizon, as you do so much, one can see the challenges. And I think that the importance of trying to resolve this in this moment where there is a willingness for people to look for a way can’t be overstated. You said if you succeed or if you – it’s not me, Mr. President. It really is a question of whether Israel and the Palestinians make the choices. And the United States of America, through President Barack Obama, is completely at the disposal of both parties to try to help bridge the divide. We will work as hard as we can. You know how strongly we support Israel. You know how much we care about and admire the journey of the Israeli people. But our hope is that the leaders in both Israel and the Palestinian Authority will find the way to compromise and to achieve both of their goals. And I look forward to working with you in that enterprise.
Now, excerpts from Kerry’s earlier statement, before meeting with his good friend “Bibi” Netanyahu.
It’s a pleasure for me to visit with my friend of many years now – longer than we can count – Bibi Netanyahu. And I’m really grateful to him for the seriousness with which he is working and undertaking the homework that President Obama asked all of us to engage in when he came here on his visit.
There have been some very serious meetings, a lot of very serious discussions. We’re working with the Prime Minister, with Minister Tzipi Livni, with military – General John Allen was here on the ground, working with his counterparts on the issues of security. I would reiterate that the United States of America is committed now, as it always has been and will be, to the security of Israel. The security of Israel is paramount in our discussions with respect to the peace process.
I am appreciative that the Prime Minister has really put personal energy into helping us to define some of the work that we need to do to figure out the way forward. Let me just say to everybody I know this region well enough to know that there is skepticism. In some corridors, there’s cynicism. And there are reasons for it. There have been bitter years of disappointment. It is our hope that by being methodical, careful, patient – but detailed and tenacious – that we can lay out a path ahead that could conceivably surprise people, but certainly exhaust the possibilities of peace. That’s what we’re working towards, and I thank the Prime Minister for his serious commitment to this endeavor.
Its humiliating to see US politicans being the lapdog of Israeli government. Kerry seems to have been more in Israel than in the US since he took this job.
Just more donkeying.
Kerry’s comments are another load of nothing.
Kerry needs more appropriate garb for this peace process skit. Maybe a red feather wig and some clown shoes.
There is no peace process and everyone including John Kerry and Obama knows it. It is all cover so that Israel can continue to grab more and more of the West Bank and Jerusalem until everyone is forced to admit IN PUBLIC that a two state solution is impossible. ( Note that when I say everyone will be forced to admit a two state solution is impossible, I mean the American president and the rest of the American government. ) What I don’t understand is what Kerry and Obama think the US is going to do when Israel has grabbed and settled darn near the entire West Bank? Will they US policy be to pressure Palestinians to leave and be resettled in other countries? Will it be for the Palestinians to take over Jordan and call that Palestine? Or will it be official US policy for the Palestinian people to accept apartheid and tell Israel to put a “kinder and gentler” face on it? I don’t dare ask what the Israeli people will do when the officially become and apartheid nation; I can only wonder what percentage of them have their passports ready.
Kerry and Obama must know they are kicking not just the can but the entire can factory down the road and that they are implementing a policy that is going to blow up in the United States’ face. It pains me to believe that they are that cowardly.
But, I heard the crap Obama spoke yesterday in his speech on drones so once again, I know I cannot expect anything meaningful in his second administration.