Both sides snipe at Kerry over peace bid
JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s closed-door diplomacy to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians has burst into a public spat, with both sides trading blistering criticisms, Republican senators showing up in Jerusalem to argue Israel’s side, and Palestinian demonstrators protesting against his visit.
Kerry is on his 10th visit to the region to try to craft a peace treaty that would create a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
He met for three hours on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Later in the day, Kerry travelled to Ramallah, in the West Bank, to speak with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Although battered by sniping from all sides, Kerry remained upbeat — at least publicly.
Asked if he was making progress, Kerry replied that progress is being made every day.
Earlier, about 150 Palestinians demonstrators marched through the streets of downtown Ramallah to protest against Kerry’s visit. They carried Palestinian flags and signs that said: “The northern, central and southern Jordan Valley are a genuine part of Palestinian sovereignty.”
The West Bank’s Jordan Valley is a strategic area along the border with Jordan that Israeli hardliners, including members of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, say must be annexed by Israel for its own security.
So far, the two sides have engaged in about 20 rounds of negotiations, which have entered a more intense phase. Kerry is asking both leaders to start making tough, highly political decisions in hopes of narrowing differences and agree on a framework that will outline a final peace pact.
The goal is for the framework, or series of guidelines, to address all core issues, including borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state, Palestinian refugees and conflicting claims to Jerusalem. No agreement on a framework is likely during Kerry’s visit.
Political activist Abdallah Maslamani said a proposed framework that would guide negotiations on a deal protect the security interests of “the terror state of occupation,” a reference to Israel.
One night earlier, the digs were coming from the other side. Netanyahu lashed out at Abbas, accusing him of embracing terrorists “as heroes.”’
Netanyahu criticized Abbas’s homecoming for more than two dozen Palestinians released this week from Israeli jails where they had served time for deadly attacks against Israelis. The Palestinian leader never condoned their crimes, but Netanyahu took offence.
“To glorify the murders of innocent women and men as heroes is an outrage,” Netanyahu said, dampening hope that much progress would be made on the contours of an eventual peace accord during Kerry’s visit.
On Friday, Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, responded to Netanyahu’s remarks, saying that even if Abbas were Mother Teresa, the Israelis would find a way to accuse Abbas of terrorism so he wouldn’t have to accept the Palestinians’ demand for a state in lands Israel captured in 1967.
Even in Jerusalem, Kerry couldn’t escape domestic politics interfering with international diplomacy. Three Republican senators — John McCain of Arizona, John Barrasso of Wyoming and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — held a news conference after meeting with the Israeli leader, reiterated his concerns, thereby emboldening Netanyahu’s position right before Kerry’s delicate talks with Abbas.