US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas upon his arrival to the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday evening.
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An Israeli official said Tuesday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved the marketing of land for 454 houses in two Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem.
A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli in the neck in the southern West Bank today and was shot dead by forces at the scene, the army and a hospital said.
The Obama administration has twice tried and failed to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, once under Kerry’s direction in 2013.
Before returning to Greece, Tsipras will also hold talks with Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin. But he made no mention of reviving peace talks.
None of the leaders themselves offered any encouragement that peace might be possible right now.
The USA purports to be attentive to Palestinian liberation in the form of a two-state solution and even occasionally hinders some aspects of Israeli occupation (such as settlement construction).
Palestinians are also angry at increasing violence by Israeli settlers, who frequently storm the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. Nineteen Israelis have been killed, mostly in stabbings. Palestinians also accuse Israel of using excessive force, saying some attackers can be stopped without being killed. The others died in clashes with Israeli forces.
Mr. Kerry mentioned him twice by name while in Israel.
Ahead of his trip, Kerry conceded he was coming without the ambitious agenda of past visits and was primarily focused on stemming the violence.
He went on to say that Israel not only had the right to defend itself from Palestinian attacks but had an obligation to do so.
Kerry’s visit was aimed at deescalating the violence, but there is little support from either the Palestinian or Israeli side to resume negotiations, which broke down more than 18 months ago.
During their meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israel would only agree to take steps to improve the security and economic situation for Palestinians in the West Bank when calm is fully restored, according to the official.
Without confirming Netanyahu’s demand, State Department spokesman Mark Toner categorically rejected that possibility. The Israeli daily Haaretz Thursday cited a Shin Bet report concluding that the youths engaging in the attacks are not acting on anyone’s orders but are motivated by “feelings of national, economic and personal deprivation”. He called for committing Israel to basic standards for serious negotiations based on the terms of reference on a two-state solution.
But divisions remain between the USA and Israel.
An Israeli man was seriously wounded in a stabbing attack near Hebron in the West Bank.
A Palestinian official, who asked not to be identified, said Kerry had asked Abbas to try to achieve at least a week of calm to persuade Netanyahu to pursue confidence-building measures.
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America’s broader concerns are the same and Kerry nearly surely pressed both sides in private to avoid provocative actions.
