U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry participates in a joint press conference with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh in
AMMAN: US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Israel yesterday that it could face a third Palestinian uprising and deepening international isolation if US-brokered peace negotiations failed.
Israelis and Palestinians have given grim assessments of the lack of progress in their talks, which the US helped revive last July after a three-year hiatus. Violence has simmered and yesterday Israeli troops killed a Palestinian wielding a makeshift firearm in the occupied West Bank.
Kerry, speaking in Jordan a day after a visit to Israel, where he appealed for limits on its settlement building in the West Bank, said negotiations had made “significant progress” in some areas.
He said it was important to keep aiming towards a full “final status” accord tackling issues at the core of the decades-old conflict, in contrast with more modest interim deals plagued by diplomatic deadlock and years of bloodshed.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 television recorded in Jerusalem before he left for Amman, Kerry painted a bleak picture of what might lie ahead if peace is not achieved.
“I mean, does Israel want a third Intifada?” he asked, referring to the danger of a new Palestinian uprising to follow those in 1987 and 2000.
Reuters
