JERUSALEM // As US secretary of state John Kerry began his 10th visit to the region in pursuit of a peace deal, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu discounted the prospects of an agreement with the Palestinians.
In the days before Mr Kerry’s latest trip to Jerusalem, Palestinian leaders have likewise accused Israel of trying to sabotage the talks aimed at ending their decades-old conflict.
“There is growing doubt in Israel that the Palestinians are committed to peace,” said Mr Netanyahu, speaking with Mr Kerry at his side and accusing Palestinian officials of orchestrating a campaign of “unabated incitement” against Israel.
Mr Kerry focused his remarks on a continued US push towards a final peace agreement, which Washington hopes to achieve by April, and his shorter-term pursuit of a framework deal that would pave the way for a permanent accord.
He said Israeli and Palestinian leaders were nearing the point, or were already at it, where they would have to make tough decisions, and he pledged to work with both sides more intensely to try to narrow differences on a framework agreement.
“It would create the fixed, defined parameters by which the parties would then know where they are going and what the end result can be,” Mr Kerry said. “This will take time and it will take compromise from both sides, but an agreed framework would be a significant breakthrough.”
On key issues in the conflict, leaders from both sides have sounded far apart this week.
Israeli deputy foreign minister, Zeev Elkin, on Thursday rejected the creation of a Palestinian state based on the lines predating the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
“The Jordan Valley must be under Israeli sovereignty forever,” he said, referring to the border area with Jordan, from which Palestinians want a full Israeli withdrawal.
On Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas renewed a call for all Israeli settlers and soldiers within the lands captured in 1967 to be withdrawn, saying he would not hesitate to reject a bad deal.
“We will say ‘yes’ to any ideas suggested to us which meet our rights. But we will not fear and will not hesitate for a moment ... to say ‘no’, whatever the pressure, to any proposal which detracts from or doesn’t fulfil the higher national interests of our people,” he said in a speech.
Ahead of My Kerry’s arrival, an 85-year old Palestinian died after inhaling tear gas fired by the Israeli army to disperse local protesters landed in his home in the occupied West Bank.
He is the first Palestinian casualty of the conflict with Israel in 2014 following a violent clash with soldiers on the outskirts of the village of Kufr Qaddoum near Nablus in the northern West Bank.
An Israeli military spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
Youths in the village were on Wednesday celebrating the 49th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement when the clash started.
Villagers said the soldiers fired dozens of tear-gas canisters at them, one of which entered Saeed Jaser Ali’s home. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died early on Thursday.
* Reuters
