Netanyahu called Kerry's position on Israel and Palestine "anti-Israel"

Photo: Depositphoto

US Secretary of State John Kerry explained why the United States abstained from voting at a meeting of the UN Security Council when the issue of banning Israeli settlements was considered. Kerry said "this was consistent with our values."

“The United States did not draft or initiate this resolution. We also strongly reject the view that somehow the United States became the driving force behind this resolution,” said the head of the foreign policy department. He said he told other countries that Washington might not block a resolution on Israel “if it is balanced and fair.”

Settlements are not the cause of the conflict, but no one can ignore the reality of the threat they pose to peace. - Secretary @JohnKerry pic.twitter.com/KdW4AgRGqs

- Department of State (@StateDept) December 28, 2016

Kerry stressed — we are not talking about the United States abandoning Israel. “The Obama administration has always defended Israel,” the secretary of state said, explaining that the Israeli government's attacks on the United States have distracted attention from the essence of the resolution - building settlements. If Israel continues to build settlements in the disputed territories, it will lead to an “irreversible reality of one state” as opposed to the peaceful principle of coexistence between Israel and Palestine “two states for two peoples.”

“Let’s be clear, building new settlements has nothing to do with Israel’s security,” Kerry said. “It is necessary for Israel to recognize the State of Palestine within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem. Israelis and Palestinians, Kerry continued, must “demonstrate, independently of each other, a genuine commitment to the principle of two states for two peoples.”

A couple of hours after John Kerry’s speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to his words. “Kerry’s speech today was directed against Israel, as was the UN Security Council resolution that he promoted,” the prime minister said.

Netanyahu считаетthat Kerry is “obsessively focused” on the issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, while the Palestinians are in principle not ready to recognize the state of Israel within any borders.

“I have no doubt that our alliance - Israel and the United States - will survive the deep differences we have with the Obama administration and will only become stronger in the future,” Netanyahu said.

Recall that the UN Security Council resolution contains an appeal "to immediately and completely stop all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem."

Initially, the UN Security Council vote on the draft resolution was scheduled for December 22, but later the delegation of Egypt, which introduced the document to the Security Council, postponed the vote.

The representative of the United States at the UN, Samantha Power, stated that the position of the States has always been that settlement construction should stop, and the country “declared this in public and private order”. At the same time, she stressed that the security of the State of Israel is also important for the United States, the threat to whose inhabitants lies in their immediate vicinity.

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