Israel ‘Deeply Disappointed’ by Kerry’s Remarks on Peace Talks
ERUSALEM — In an unusually pointed rebuke of its ally, the United States, Israel said on Wednesday that it was “deeply disappointed” by Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks a day earlier that appeared to lay primary blame on Israel for the crisis in the American-brokered Middle East peace talks.
The Israeli-Palestinian dispute that has brought the talks to the brink of collapse appeared to be developing into an open row between Israel and the United States, even as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were said to be planning a third meeting here this week with American mediators to try to resolve the crisis.
In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Mr. Kerry said that both the Israeli and Palestinian sides bore responsibility for “unhelpful” actions, but that the precipitating event of the impasse was Israel’s announcement of 700 new housing units for Jewish settlement in an area of Jerusalem across the 1967 lines, in territory the Palestinians claim for a future state.
“Poof, that was sort of the moment,” Mr. Kerry said. “We find ourselves where we are.”
In what is being referred to here as “the poof speech,” Mr. Kerry laid out the chain of events that led to the verge of a breakdown.
Clearly stung by Mr. Kerry’s version and his focus on the settlement issue, Israel countered on Wednesday that it was the Palestinians who had “violated their fundamental commitments” by applying last week to join 15 international conventions and treaties.
Mr. Kerry’s remarks “will both hurt the negotiations and harden Palestinian positions,” said an official in the office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Palestinian action came after Israel failed to release a promised fourth batch of prisoners by a late March deadline. Hours before the Palestinians decided on that course, Israel’s housing minister published construction tenders for the contentious new housing.
“Secretary Kerry,” the official in Mr. Netanyahu’s office said, “knows that it was the Palestinians who said ‘no’ to continued direct talks with Israel in November; who said ‘no’ to his proposed framework for final status talks; who said ‘no’ to even discussing recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people; who said ‘no’ to a meeting with Kerry himself; and who said ‘no’ to an extension of the talks.”
He added, “At the same time, in the understandings reached prior to the talks, Israel did not commit to any limitation on construction. Therefore, the Palestinian claim that building in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, was a violation of the understandings is contrary to the facts. Both the American negotiating team and the Palestinians know full well that Israel made no such commitment.”
A Palestinian official close to the negotiations, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate diplomatic situation, said in response that Israel was “undermining the American role in the peace process.” The Palestinian side, he said, “never raised any issue that is not already an Israeli obligation.”
Israel is obliged to stop settlement activity, the Palestinian official said, because it is considered illegal under international law. The Obama administration has described the settlements as “illegitimate.”
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Israel’s failure to release the fourth batch of prisoners, the Palestinian official added, violated an American-brokered agreement. As for extending the talks, he said, Israel has so far “clearly shown no interest” in trying to reach an agreement establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
While the details of the negotiations have been kept secret at Mr. Kerry’s insistence, little progress appeared to have been made, with the sides stuck over fundamental issues like borders, security, the future of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and Israel’s demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
Under an American-brokered deal to resume negotiations last July, Israel had pledged to release 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners in four batches and the Palestinians pledged not to turn to international bodies for the nine months allotted for the talks.
Israel said the Palestinians took their unilateral step as the Israeli government was preparing to approve a broader deal, including the prisoner release, on the condition that the Palestinians agreed to an extension of the negotiations beyond their April 29 expirations date.
But numerous senior Palestinian officials have said that the prisoner release was part of a separate deal and not contingent on an extension of negotiations. They said they waited days after the March 29 deadline for the release and kept hearing from American officials that the Israeli government was about to convene to approve the release, but nothing happened.
Israeli leaders have called on the Palestinians to withdraw their applications to join the treaties and conventions. Palestinian officials have said the applications will not be reversed.
“Israel wants to see the negotiations continue and will persist in its efforts to resolve the current crisis,” the official from the Israeli prime minister’s office said. But he warned, “In response to unilateral Palestinian steps, Israel will take unilateral steps of its own.”
In the latest of a series of tit-for-tat measures, Israel on Wednesday directed its government ministers and senior ministry officials to refrain from meeting with their Palestinian counterparts.
The ban on contacts does not apply to the negotiators, and Israeli officials signaled that the coordination between the two sides on security issues would continue. But it was intended to send a message that there would be no business as usual.
Ehab Bseiso, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, told Reuters that the Israeli decision undermined international efforts “to revive the negotiations, to proceed with a constructive solution to the challenges facing the peace process.”
The potential impact of the Israeli directive was not immediately clear.
Many Israeli ministries have no contact with their Palestinian counterparts in any case, and most civilian issues are coordinated through the Israeli military administration in the West Bank. But staffers of the Israeli and Palestinian finance ministries routinely meet to coordinate the transfer of tax revenues that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and there are frequent contacts on environmental issues, among others.
The Israeli news media have reported that the Israeli authorities are also moving to block a cellphone company from entering the Gaza Strip and to delay providing 3G services in the West Bank, as well as halting plans for some development projects in the West Bank.
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