It seems US Secretary of State John Kerry has not necessarily given up on an Israeli-PA deal, notwithstanding the harsh collapse of peace negotiations.
Protest in Jerusalem in March against demand to release terrorists in order to continue peace negotiations. (Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The nine-month deadline for a preliminary agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority expired on Tuesday. Yet US Secretary of State John Kerry still has hopes for a resumption of talks, according to widespread media reports.
“It’s a matter of time before they all come back and want to have negotiations,” an aide to the Secretary said.
“It has always been unclear precisely what Kerry has to gain from such a Quixotic endeavor,” observed a World Jewish Daily column. “He has already been humiliated several times as a result of Palestinian perfidy.”
Remarks made by Kerry in a closed-door meeting several days ago, leaked by the Daily Beast blog, seemed to put the blame for the failed US-brokered peace negotiations mainly on Israel, which, Kerry said, “is in danger of becoming an ‘apartheid regime’” if a deal is not achieved.
US Senator Ted Cruz demanded that Kerry resign, saying “there is no place for this word in the context of the state of Israel.”
PA Chair Mahmoud Abbas, throughout the peace negotiations, adamantly refused to recognize the Jewish State – a stand that swayed Jerusalem to postpone the release of 26 terrorists from prison. In response, Abbas forged ahead with unilateral bids for statehood at the UN.
An intense all-night meeting failed to bring about any reconciliation.
The final straw for Israel was the Fatah-Hamas unity deal. (Fatah is the PA’s ruling party, headed by Abbas.)
Palestinian Arab supporters of Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) demonstrate against continued peace negotiations in Ramallah last month. (Photo: Issam Rimawi/Flash 90)
“Whoever chooses Hamas does not want peace,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared.
Fatah welcomed the unity with a terror group, “depicting it as a unity between two military organizations,” Palestinian Media Watch revealed.
PMW pointed to Fatah’s Facebook page, which advocates violence against Israelis and glorification of terror. The media watchdog noted the lack of any meaningful difference between Fatah and terror groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Jihad.
By Atara Beck, Staff Writer/Editor, UWI