Kerry: We can do things to preserve two-state solution
Dec 1, 2016 19:34:55 GMT -5
Post by schwartzie on Dec 1, 2016 19:34:55 GMT -5
I can't wait until this creep is gone! 
John Kerry: There are ‘things we can do’ to preserve two-state solution
Outgoing secretary of state indicates Obama administration still considering action in final days, but says US can’t ’force-feed’ peace
BY RON KAMPEAS December 1, 2016, 4:41 am 14
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry signaled in a speech that the Obama administration was still considering action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its final days, although it might fall short of a direct intervention on the issue.
There’s no way to “force-feed” peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Kerry said in a lengthy speech delivered Tuesday at the Women’s Foreign Policy Group conference, but there are “other things we can do” to preserve a two-state solution.
It’s not clear whether President Barack Obama favors any action on the two-state front, and Congress and the mainstream pro-Israel lobby have said they would vehemently oppose it.
Kerry also defended the Iran nuclear deal, as did the outgoing CIA director, John Brennan, in an interview with the BBC, part of what likely will be a full-court press by the Obama administration to persuade President-elect Donald Trump not to kill the 2015 agreement that exchanged a nuclear rollback for sanctions relief.
The Obama administration is coming under pressure from groups that favor an assertive US posture on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to take steps to preserve the two-state solution before Trump takes office. Former President Jimmy Carter in a New York Times op-ed this week urged Obama to back a U.N. Security Council resolution that would recognize Palestinian statehood. J Street, a liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, also has urged Obama to take actions to preserve two states as an outcome, including backing a “balanced” Security Council resolution.
The Palestinians reportedly are preparing a resolution condemning Israel for settlement expansion that they hope a sympathetic nation will submit to the Security Council.
Article continues at link
John Kerry: There are ‘things we can do’ to preserve two-state solution
Outgoing secretary of state indicates Obama administration still considering action in final days, but says US can’t ’force-feed’ peace
BY RON KAMPEAS December 1, 2016, 4:41 am 14
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry signaled in a speech that the Obama administration was still considering action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its final days, although it might fall short of a direct intervention on the issue.
There’s no way to “force-feed” peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Kerry said in a lengthy speech delivered Tuesday at the Women’s Foreign Policy Group conference, but there are “other things we can do” to preserve a two-state solution.
It’s not clear whether President Barack Obama favors any action on the two-state front, and Congress and the mainstream pro-Israel lobby have said they would vehemently oppose it.
Kerry also defended the Iran nuclear deal, as did the outgoing CIA director, John Brennan, in an interview with the BBC, part of what likely will be a full-court press by the Obama administration to persuade President-elect Donald Trump not to kill the 2015 agreement that exchanged a nuclear rollback for sanctions relief.
The Obama administration is coming under pressure from groups that favor an assertive US posture on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to take steps to preserve the two-state solution before Trump takes office. Former President Jimmy Carter in a New York Times op-ed this week urged Obama to back a U.N. Security Council resolution that would recognize Palestinian statehood. J Street, a liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, also has urged Obama to take actions to preserve two states as an outcome, including backing a “balanced” Security Council resolution.
The Palestinians reportedly are preparing a resolution condemning Israel for settlement expansion that they hope a sympathetic nation will submit to the Security Council.
Article continues at link
