Wednesday, December 28, 2016

What Kerry got wrong in his Israel speech

Secretary of State John Kerry laid out his vision of a Middle East peace deal on Wednesday. Rather than achieve peace between Israel and Palestinians, however, Kerry will be remembered for catalyzing terrorism and setting back the cause of peace for decades, if not permanently. The problems are not only ego and pique, the twisted personal motivations of Kerry and President Obama, but also the false conventional wisdom upon which Kerry and his aides operate.
Here is what they get wrong:
Intransigence: Who is holding up peace? After long and careful negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority brokered by the United States and the broader international community, Israeli leaders offered their Palestinian counterparts peace deals in 2000 and 2008. Both the late Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat and his successor Mahmoud Abbas rejected the offers and walked away, without offering a counter proposal. When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu froze settlement construction upon Obama's request, Abbas again refused for nine months to even talk to the Israelis.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/what-kerry-got-wrong-in-his-israel-speech/article/2610471 

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