Kerry's Peace Principles: Jerusalem Would Be Capital of Two StatesIn speech strongly critical of Israeli government, Kerry warns against a one-state reality and lays out principles of future peace agreement. Netanyahu's office: Speech biased against Israel.
The only thing new is Kerry's facelift.
U.S. Secretary of State John
#Kerry strongly criticized Israel's government in a speech on Wednesday, saying that trends on the ground are leading to a one-state solution and defending the U.S. decision not to veto a
#UN Security Council resolution against Israeli
#settlements.
"If the choice is one-state,
#Israel can either be Jewish or democratic, it cannot be both and it won't ever live in peace," he said.
Kerry presented the principles of a future final status agreement: An Israeli and a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines; full rights to all citizens; a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue; Jerusalem as the capital of both states; an end to the occupation, while satisfying Israel's security needs, with a demilitarized
#Palestinian state; an end to all claims by both sides.
Prime Minister Benjamin
#Netanyahu rejected Kerry's speech. In televised remarks, Netanyahu criticized Kerry for attacking the "the only democracy in the Middle East" while terror is rampant and the "Middle East is in flames."
The Prime Minister's Office said:"Just like the resolution that John Kerry advanced at the United Nations, the speech he delivered was biased against Israel. For more than an hour Kerry dealt obsessively with the settlements and almost did not touch on the source of the conflict – Palestinian opposition to the existence of a
#Jewish state with any borders."
