{"id":68020,"date":"2015-12-21T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=68020"},"modified":"2015-12-21T06:48:13","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T06:48:13","slug":"kerry-questions-what-israels-policy-really-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/12\/kerry-questions-what-israels-policy-really-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerry Questions What Israel\u2019s Policy Really Is"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Increasingly<\/a>

Increasingly frequent home demolitions prompt increasingly angry protest points out John Kerry. This large police guard is needed for a home demolition in Shoafat refugee camp, December 2nd, 2015. Photo from Israel police.<\/p><\/div>\n

Kerry: Israel \u2018imperilling\u2019 two-state solution<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

By Ma\u2019an news
\nDecember 06\/08, 2015<\/em><\/p>\n

BETHLEHEM \u2014 US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Saturday that key Israeli policies were \u201cimperilling\u201d the viability of a two-state solution and pushing the Palestinian Authority toward collapse.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Brookings Institution\u2019s annual Saban Forum in Washington D.C., Kerry said there were \u201cvalid questions as to how long the Palestinian Authority will remain if the current situation continues,\u201d in some of his strongest comments to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current path is not leading to a more peaceful future. I am concerned that if a significant effort is not made to change the current dynamic, it will only bring more violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

He reiterated his condemnation of Palestinian acts of violence, but stressed that key Israeli policies \u2014 including control over Area C, settlement activity, and home demolitions \u2014 were pushing the region away from peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Abbas spoke more despairingly than I have ever heard him about the sense of hopelessness the Palestinian people feel,\u201d Kerry said, referring to a meeting the two held during a visit to the region at the end of last month.<\/p>\n

While he acknowledged that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had stated his commitment to a two-state solution, he said it was \u201cimportant that that not become a slogan, not become a throwaway phrase \u2014 that it becomes a policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He expressed alarm at recent reports that senior Israeli officials had agreed it was not in Israel\u2019s interests to maintain the PA, and condemned Israeli government ministers for outright opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

He said the PA\u2019s 30,000 security forces had played a \u201ckey role in preventing the situation from spiralling out of control\u201d in the occupied West Bank \u2014 including over the course of three devastating wars in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout the PA security forces, the IDF could be forced to deploy tens of thousands of soldiers to the West Bank \u2014 indefinitely \u2014 to fill the void,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre Israelis prepared for the consequences this would have for their children and grandchildren who serve in the IDF when the inevitable friction leads to confrontation and violence?\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it would cost Israel billions of dollars to control the West Bank, while they would run the risk of allowing religious extremism to fill the vacuum of \u201cchaos, lawlessness, and desperation\u201d left by the PA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout the PA, Israel would also shoulder the responsibility for providing basic services in the West Bank, including for maintaining schools, hospitals, and law and order,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With a note of exasperation, he asked: \u201cIf there is a risk the the PA could collapse, and it is in Israel\u2019s interests for it to in fact survive, should more therefore not be done to help sustain it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A permanent underclass?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kerry also raised key questions about the nature of a one-state solution, in comments that some Palestinians will see as reflecting a reality that already exists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould millions of Palestinians be given the basic rights of Israeli citizens, including the right to vote, or would they be relegated to a permanent underclass?\u201d Kerry asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould the Israelis and Palestinians living together in such close quarters have segregated roads and transport systems, with different laws applying in the Palestinian enclaves? Would anyone really believe they were being treated equally?\u201d<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe one-state solution is no solution at all for a secure, Jewish, democratic Israel living in peace.\u201d However, he said \u201ccurrent trends, including violence, settlement activity, demolitions are imperilling the viability of a two-state solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that Area C, territory that falls under full Israeli control and constitutes more than 60 percent of the occupied West Bank, \u201cis effectively restricted for any Palestinian development.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that in 2014, his office was aware of only a single building permit being granted by the Israelis authorities to Palestinians living in Area C.<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>

January 2015, police guard the spot where Palestinian homes have been demolished \u2013 a week after the government announced tenders for 430 new settlement homes for Jews. Photo by Mussa Qawasma.<\/p><\/div>\n

Meanwhile, he said that Israel was continuing to legalize settlement outposts, while \u201cthe settlement population has increased by tens of thousands over just the last five years.\u201d\u00a0He said: \u201cThe continued settlement growth raises honest questions about Israel\u2019s long-term intentions, and will only make separating from the Palestinians much more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerry urged Israel to return to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which calls for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territory in exchange for full normalization of ties with the Arab world.<\/p>\n

He also called on Israel to strengthen the PA, saying that increasing the extent of PA\u2019s power would serve toward peace for both Palestinians and Israelis.<\/p>\n

Kerry reportedly left the region at the end of last month disappointed to find Israel unwilling to compromise in the occupied West Bank. In recent months, a clear rift has emerged between Israeli politicians and senior Israeli army officials.<\/p>\n

While far-right members of the government have been calling for further military action in the West Bank and said that the collapse of the PA is in their interests, the army has recommended lifting restrictions on Palestinians, providing more work permits in Israel, and providing more support \u2014 including weapons \u2014 to the PA.<\/p>\n

\"john<\/a>John Kerry at the Saban Center, December 5th, 2015. \u201cBut my \u00a0friends, it is important that [support for a 2-state solution] not become a slogan, not become a throwaway phrase, that it becomes a policy, which is what it is meant to be.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

His full speech is here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

________________________________<\/p>\n

Jews for Justice for Palestinians is a network of Jews who are British or live in Britain, practising and secular, Zionist and not. We oppose Israeli policies that undermine the livelihoods, human, civil and political rights of the Palestinian people. We support the right of Israelis to live in freedom and security within Israel\u2019s 1967 borders. We work to build world-wide Jewish opposition to the Israeli Occupation, with like-minded groups around the world and are a founding member of <\/em>European Jews for a Just Peace<\/em>, a federation of Jewish groups in ten European countries.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 jfjfp.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent speech at the Brookings Institute, the US Secretary of State has clearly given up on reaching a two-state agreement. For the Israelis, he says, it is just a \u2018slogan\u2019 a \u2018throw away remark\u2019 contradicted by their practices of settlements and demolition of Palestinian homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68020\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}