Tag Archive for John Kerry

| August 14, 2013
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Dispite Public Outcries Abbas & Kerry Knew in Advance of Israel’s Building Plans

 

US Secretary of State admitted in a press conference in Brazil, that from the very start, Netanyahu had been “completely up front” about Israel’s building plans.

By Ari Soffer

 

 

US Secretary of State John Kerry revealed Tuesday that he and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas were fully aware that the Israeli government intended to continue building in parts of Judea and Samaria which “will not affect the peace map” when the decision was made to restart talks.

Kerry and Abbas – AFP photo

As such, despite the “outcry” by the Palestinian Authority, Abbas is still committed to talks with Israel over the next nine months, he said. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , , ,
| August 13, 2013
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Kerry warned Israel faces demonization campaign ‘on steroids’ should talks fail

 

 

 

Columnist Jeffery Goldberg criticizes Netanyahu’s ‘self-destructive West Bank settlement policy’.

He also claims Kerry believes Prime Minister is afraid of int’l isolation, telling him that if peace-talks fail, Israel would face a demonization campaign ‘on steroids’.

By Ynet

In a new article, Bloomberg columnist Jeffery Goldberg claims that despite Israel’s West Bank settlement construction, US Secretary of State John Kerry managed to grab Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s attention by highlighting growing isolation Israel would face should peace talks fail.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - Photo: AP

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – Photo: AP

In his op-ed, Goldberg slammed Israel’s self-destructive” West Bank construction” and quoted a source close to negotiations as claiming Kerry believes Netanyahu fears delegitimization as much as he fears the Iranian threat and wants nothing but to remain in power. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| August 10, 2013
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Netanyahu to Kerry: Continual Palestinian Incitement isn’t Conducive to Peace

PM Netanyahu wrote to Kerry saying “Incitement and peace do not go together,” after continual incendiary statements being broadcast on PA TV.

By Gil Ronen

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent a letter Saturday evening to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in which he complained that Palestinian Authority (PA) incitement against Israel is continuing even after a return to U.S.-brokered “peace negotiations” between Israel and the PA was announced.

“Incitement and peace do not go together,” wrote Netanyahu. “Instead of educating the next generation of Palestinians to live in peace with Israel, the education to terror poisons them against Israel and lays the groundwork for continued violence and terror.” Continue Reading »

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| August 9, 2013
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Kerry tells US Jewish leaders: Palestinian-Israeli peace a ‘strategic imperative’


U.S. Sec of St. Kerry asks American Jews to endorse negotiations between Israel & the Palestinians.

By

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice briefed Jewish leaders on resumed Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

Kerry and Indyk.

Kerry and Indyk at the State Department in Washington. – Photo: Reuters

The meeting Thursday evening in the White House lasted 90 minutes, participants said, and was characterized mostly by Kerry’s enthusiasm for the resumed talks, and the serious commitment he said saw from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Kerry appeared bullish about talks he has worked assiduously to revive since becoming secretary of state in February, but also nervous about the potential for failure, warning of circumstances – for instance, pressures on Netanyahu – that could undermine the talks. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| July 28, 2013
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Palestinians claim Kerry promised Abbas to reject any Israeli bid for interim deal

 

Palestinians take a stand on borders & prisoners, with official warning that there will be no talks without prisoner release.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, KHALED ABU TOAMEH
 

 

The US has given the Palestinian Authority assurances that it will reject any Israeli proposals to establish a Palestinian state with provisional borders as part of an interim agreement, a senior Palestinian official was quoted on Sunday as telling the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.

Kerry, with Abbas, makes a short statement for reporters during recent visit.

Kerry, with Abbas, makes a short statement for reporters during recent visit. – Photo: REUTERS

After US secretary of State John Kerry’s whirlwind round of shuttle diplomacy which lasted months, Israeli and Palestinian officials are due in Washington this week to kick off the latest round of peace negotiations.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| July 28, 2013
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MKs: Has the U.S Ever Freed Terrorists?

MKs ask why U.S. gov’t officials pressure Israel to free murderers, while refusing to release Jonathan Pollard.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Members of Knesset expressed frustration Sunday that Israel is releasing terrorist killers in order to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority, following intervention from United States Secretary of State John Kerry.

The United States would never do what Israel is being asked to do, they accused.

“It isn’t moral to release murderers. It isn’t safe to release murderers… Has the United States ever released murderers as a concession to terrorism?” asked MK Motti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi).

“The United States hasn’t even freed Jonathan Pollard, after he served his sentence and has been in prison for more than 28 years,” he noted. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| July 26, 2013
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Foreign Ministry to Kerry: Pre-’67 borders as basis for talks contravenes US commitments

 

Alan Baker says any US guarantee to the Palestinians over borders violate a US promise previously written to Israel.

By HERB KEINON

 

 

Any US guarantee to the Palestinians that the upcoming negotiations with Israel will be based on the pre-1967 lines would be a violation of written US commitments given to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon, former Foreign Ministry legal adviser Alan Baker wrote in a letter sent this week to Secretary of State John Kerry.

IDF tanks and ambulance on the Gaza border - Photo: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters

IDF tanks and ambulance on the Gaza border – Photo: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters

Baker wrote the letter on behalf of the Legal Forum for Israel, along with another attorney with the group, Yossi Fuchs.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| July 23, 2013
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Palestinians leaders say peace talks may not begin unless Israel agrees to preconditions

John Kerry’s announcement is starting to look premature as Palestinian spokesmen say Abbas has not yet agreed to start Peace Talk.

By Ryan Jones

 

 

While American and Israeli leaders are already patting themselves on their respective backs over the reported resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the other party to the talks, the Palestinian Authority, is saying everyone should instead hold their respective horses.

Palestinians say peace talks might not happen, after all

Nabil Abu Rudeineh and Yasser Abed Rabbo, official spokesmen for Abbas

Israel is already setting up negotiating teams, and the Obama Administration is praising itself over ostensibly “closing the gaps” that had previously seemed like insurmountable obstacles. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| July 19, 2013
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Kerry Goes Home After PLO says No

Mustafa Barghouti, a PA member of parliament, said “most factions” within the PLO had rejected Kerry’s proposal.

By Arutz Sheva

 

US Secretary of State John Kerry was preparing to leave the Middle East on Friday as Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders rejected his plan to resume the stalled peace talks.

The setback for the US plan came from the governing Revolutionary Council of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s own Fatah (PLO) movement, which demanded changes. This, despite reports that Israel had agreed to negotiate with the PA on the basis of tacit agreements that Israeli nationalists would find hard to swallow.

The broader Palestine Liberation Organisation, which also includes leftwing factions less sympathetic towards a compromise, said it was also drawing up a formal response to Kerry’s proposals. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| July 18, 2013
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Another Palestinian Precondition: Abbas Demands Airport in Ramallah

Western sources leak new list of Palestinians’ conditions for renewing peace talks

in wake of Kerry-Abbas talks, which include permission to build

 airport in Ramallah, construction of hotels on the Dead Sea, more visas to work in Israel etc. etc. etc….

By Elior Levy

 

Western sources told Ynet Wednesday that in meetings with international sources on the issue of renewing peace talks with Israel, the Palestinians stipulated that they be granted approval to build an airport in Ramallah – the first in the West Bank.

Kerry, Abbas talk peace – Photo: AFP

It has been reported in the past that economic incentives would be granted to the Palestinians as part of the peace talks’ resumption, but so far the nature of said incentives has remained vague. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| July 6, 2013
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Kerry’s plan for restarting talks: prisoner release & settlement freeze

 

U.S. Sec of St John Kerry’s plan to restart peace talks: Israel will release 103 Palestinian terrorists from prison, freeze home construction outside major towns & a $4B transfer to the Palestinian leaders by the U.S.

The Palestinians are still not satisfied.

By Elor Levy

US Secretary of State John Kerry‘s plan to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians calls for the release of some 103 Palestinian prisoners serving time in Israeli prisons from a time prior to the signing Oslo accords, London-based Al Hayat reported, citing Western diplomatic sources.

אבו מאזן וקרי ברמאללה (צילום: רויטרס)

Kerry, Abbas – Photo: Reuters

According to a Palestinian source, the difference of opinions between the two sides remain large, as the Palestinians demand the release of all 103 together and a complete halt in settlement constriction. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| July 4, 2013
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American Jewish groups bash Bennett’s two-state statements

Israel’s minister Naftali Bennett’s 2-state statement may have unwittingly opened the door to 3 American Jewish organizations that support the peace initiative so enthusiastically carried out by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

By Ron Kampeas

 

WASHINGTON (JTA)— It’s almost boilerplate: The American Jewish community asks a foreign leader with whom it has cultivated a close relationship to kindly tell firebrands in the leader’s government to pipe down and fall in with an established policy that happens to be embraced by the U.S. government.

Greece? Romania? Hungary? Russia?

Try Israel.

In a rare rebuke of a sitting Israeli minister, three major centrist Jewish groups in recent weeks have criticized Naftali Bennett, the economics chief in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, for saying that the two-state solution is a “dead end.”

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , ,
| July 2, 2013
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It’s Official: Kerry says Israeli settlements not obstacle to peace

Visiting US Sec of St Kerry rejects idea that Israel’s ‘settlement activity’ is preventing resumption of peace talks.

 

By Israel Today Staff

 

The Palestinian Authority and its supporters around the world regularly single out Jewish “settlements” on the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria as, if not the sole, then certainly the primary obstacle to peace.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State, John Kerry - Photo by Amos Ben-Gershom, GPO

PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State, John Kerry – Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom, GPO

 

But US Secretary of State John Kerry said before his departure from the region earlier this week that, in fact, Jewish settlements are not the primary obstacle to peace. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| July 1, 2013
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John McCain: U.S. must aid Syrian rebels to keep Iran from nuclear weapons

U.S.Republican senator, in Israel, agrees with P.M.Netanyahu: Negotiations with Palestinians must be without preconditions.

By and Reuters

U.S. Senator John McCain said in an interview published Monday that arming Syrian rebels is an important step in deterring Iran from its nuclear ambitions.

Senator John McCain, left, speaks during a press conference with Senator Lindsey Graham

Senator John McCain, left, speaks during a press conference as Senator Lindsey Graham, right, listens on, Jerusalem, June 30 2013. – Photo: AFP

Speaking to Army Radio on a visit to Israel, the Republican senator deflected concerns that weapons provided to rebels could fall into the hands of terrorists, who might use them against the United States and Israel. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| July 1, 2013
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Senior Israeli diplomat: Kerry disappointed in Abbas

 

After failing to renew peace talks U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry departs saying: ‘With a little more work, final status negotiations are within reach’.

Israeli official: Most of Kerry’s pressure is now directed at PA Abbas.

By Mati Tuchfeld, Daniel Siryoti, Yoni Hirsch & Israel Hayom Staff

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is disappointed in the conduct of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a senior Israeli diplomatic official said on Sunday after Kerry departed Israel following his latest attempt to renew Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Sunday – Photo: Reuters

Before taking off from Ben-Gurion International Airport, Kerry promised to return soon and announced that two of his aides would remain in Israel to work on bridging remaining differences that are preventing the resumption of negotiations.

Continue Reading »
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