MidEast peace plan will be 'fair,balanced': Kerry
Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday rejected Israeli and Palestinian claims the US was biased as he made a whistlestop tour of allies Jordan and Saudi Arabia to woo support for his peace plan.
Kerry promised any agreed plan would be "fair and balanced" and likened his efforts to broker a compromise between the conflicting demands of the two sides to a puzzle.
"In the end all of these core issues fit together like a mosaic, like a puzzle and you can't separate out one piece or another," Kerry said in Jerusalem before flying to Amman, and later Saudi Arabia.
Each piece was interlinked, he stressed, and depended on the compromises the other side might be prepared to make.
"And there's always tension as to when you put your card on the table as to which piece you're willing to do, when and how," said Kerry.
But he warned his efforts could ultimately fail, saying he could not tell when "the last pieces may decide to fall into place, or may fall on the floor, and leave the puzzle unfinished. That's exactly what makes this such a challenge."
On the fourth day of his long trip to the region, Kerry was briefing the key Jordanian and Saudi stakeholders about his intense shuttling between Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Kerry kicked-started nine months of direct negotiations in July after a three-year hiatus. But Israeli and Palestinian officials have both traded accusations in recent days.
"The Palestinians are continuing their campaign of inciting hatred, as we have seen in the last few days with their refusal to recognise Israel as a state for the Jewish people," Netanyahu told his cabinet yesterday.
"This is the main issue that we're discussing with (Kerry). Among other key topics are Israel's security, which must remain in its hands," he added, in comments broadcast by public radio.
A peace treaty would deal with all the core issues dividing the two sides, including the contours of a future Palestinian state, refugees, the fate of Jerusalem claimed by both as a capital, security and mutual recognition.
A cabinet member close to Netanyahu said Sunday Israel rejects any US-proposed security concessions for the Jordan Valley, where the West Bank borders Jordan.
Comments