View of Beitar Ilit, Israeli settlement Photo Credit Yoninah via Wikimedia Commons
Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that the United States allowed the passage a U.N. condemnation of Israel’s settlement policies as the only way to preserve a two-state solution on the verge of being destroyed.
Responding to Israeli criticism that the United States has abandoned and betrayed Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East, Kerry said no U.S. administration has done more for Israel’s security than the current one.
Last week, a UN Security Council resolution declared Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinan territories of West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal, as Israeal faces growing criticism for what the international community sees as an attempt to reduce the possibility of a two-state solution to the crisis.
“The vote in the UN was about preserving the two state solution,” said Kerry, speaking from the State Department’s Dean Acheson Auditorium.
“That’s what we were standing up for: Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, living side by side in peace and security with its neighbours. That’s what we are trying to preserve, for our sake and for theirs.”
At the same time, the top American diplomat not all hope had been lost.
“I am also here to share my conviction that there is still a way forward if the responsible parties are willing to act,” Kerry said, opening his speech.
But Kerry was explicit in warning that, “despite our best efforts over the years, the two-state solution is now in serious jeopardy.”
Kerry’s speech aimed to address some of the issues that have seen a deterioration of relations between the Israeli government and the Obama administration. The ties have plunged despte Obama’s approval of military aid for Israel worth $38 billion over 10 years, the largest of its kind in U.S. history.
President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially clashed over the Iran nuclear deal, as Netanyahu aggressively lobbied Congress to reject what he saw as an existential threat to the Jewish state.
The dispute over Israeli settlements is the latest flashpoint after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution last week condemning settlements in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as an obstacle to peace.
The United States abstained, rather than exercising its veto, so it passed on a 14-0 vote.
Meanwhile, President-Elect Donald Trump said ahead of Kerry’s speech that a Trump Administration would adopt a different attitude toward Israel and its concerns.
“We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but…….not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!”he said in a tweet.
