President Barack Obama and Kerry have said numerous times that they only would suggest conditions for two states but that it was up to the Palestinian Authority and Israel to want them. Now that both sides don’t want them, Kerry cannot forgive them.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech to the Saban Forum Saturday has been reported as a warning to Israel that “one state” threatens Israel, but his remarks in truth were his way of venting anger that he has failed again.
He laced his address with several outright lies and more proof of the ignorance of the State Dept. when it comes to the Middle East in general and Israel in specific.
Kerry began his 93-minute speech by boasting how the Obama administration is supposedly succeeding in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS) and the supposed beauty of the nuclear deal with Iran.
After 50 minutes, he turned to the “two-state” proposal that he calls a solution for Israeli and the Palestinian Authority.
His speech has been headlined around the world as putting the blame both on Mahmoud Abbas and Binyamin Netanyahu for what he says is the only alternative – “one state” that would end a “Jewish and democratic Israel.”
The real reason for the blame game is that both sides have not adopted the American government’s prized peace process.
Kerry, like his boss and his subordinates, look at the world through American eyes and with an American mindset. He passionately believes that creating a new Arab state inside what are Israel’s current borders will bring peace. Kerry truly believes that the Arab world and Israel don’t understand their own problems and their region.
Here are some of his comments that were not widely quoted:
Peace is the best guarantor for security.
That sounds nice, but security also is the best guarantor for peace.
I know how complicated it is. I think I understand it. The United States has tried to make Israel and realize the vision [of two states]. Two states is not a vision put out not for our sake but because it is the best hope for Israelis and Palestinians.
The “two-state” idea is only for the sake of Kerry and Obama. Achieving it would give them their only triumph, unless one wants to include the nuclear agreement with Iran that has not yet passed a single test.
The violence must stop. We condemn these outrageous attacks in the strongest possible terms. we have worked hard to find a way to end the violence…. President Abbas has long been committed to violence, Don’t forget that.
That is an outright lie. Kerry even admitted that terror must be “publicly condemned,” but his insistence on selling Abbas as a peace partner forced him to imply the incredible and baseless idea that Abbas is not responsible for his regime.
Kerry told his audience:
Are Palestinian officials really doing everything possible to prevent all forms of incitement?
Of course they are not, but Abbas could issue an order that incitement cease and desist. But he does not. Instead, this man whom Kerry says “condemns violence,” personally pays tributes to martyrs.
The two massive faults in the Obama administration’s “two-state” proposal are first, its assumption that the people want it, and second that the escalation in violence is because both sides have not accepted the American package.
Kerry asserted:
President Abbas spoke more despairingly than I have heard him about the sense of hopelessness of the Palestinian people.
I have spent hours, probably more with Abu Mazen [Abbas] that any other leader in America today. I have had a lot of discussion with both sides over the past three years, and let me tell you the level of distrust between them has become more profound.
That is not so. There never was a level of trust. Rabin and Arafat did not trust each other any more than Netanyahu and Abbas trust each other. The real change in the level of trust is towards the American government.