John Kerry has delivered his most impassioned speech on the Israel-Palestinian crisis - saying Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is the most right-wing in Israeli history, with an agenda driven by extreme elements.

John Kerry has delivered his most impassioned speech on the Israel-Palestinian crisis - saying Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is the most right-wing in Israeli history, with an agenda driven by extreme elements.
Insisting that a two-state solution is the only way to achieve peace in Middle East, Mr Kerry said Israel would never secure a lasting deal with Arab countries, if it opted for the one-state option.

“If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or Democratic,” he said, speaking at the State Department in Washington. “It cannot be both.”

Mr Kerry’s speech represented the final effort by the Obama administration to try and shape things in the Middle East, after President-elect Donald Trump assumes office on January 20.

Last week, the US outraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by permitting the UN Security Council to rebuke Israel over the building of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories. It did so, by abstaining from the vote, rather than using its veto, as it has repeatedly in the past to protect Israel.

“The United States did in fact vote in accordance with our values, just as previous administrations have done,” Mr Kerry said. “The vote in the United Nations was about preserving the two-state solution. That's what we were standing up for.
”
Mr Kerry pointed to the official position of Mr Netanyahu, who has said he supports a two-state solution. Yet, the top US diplomat said that the Israeli leader was allowing himself to he directed by extremists in his government - “the most right-wing in Israel's history”.

The Associated Press said the speech of the 73-year-old Mr Kerry marked the latest escalation in a bitter row between the US and Israel that has erupted in the last days of Mr Obama’s administration. The display of discord between allies - with US and Israeli officials openly disparaging each other - has also pitted President Barack Obama against President-elect Donald Trump, who has firmly taken Mr Netanyahu’s side.

Mr Netanyahu and Mr Trump combined in criticising the decision. But Mr Kerry said it had been obliged to stand up for something important. He said the  “settler agenda is defining the future of Israel”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/john-kerry-middle-east-speech-israel-palestine-twp-state-a7499136.html


Shame the USA has never stood up to Israel before now and kept on funding the atrocities it commits.

This is what the settlers do to their own soldiers and police

The Zionist invader "settlers" on the West Bank are scum of the first order...

The closest comparison in current times that I can think of, just off hand, are the equally criminal invader settlers that Indonesia has imposed on West Papua/Irian Jaya over the past four decades..

I believe--hope?--that America and Israel are heading to a parting of ways.

When you think about it, it's a bastard relationship to begin with. Israel is a fully-grown nation...and it's still living with Mum?? That's weird.