WASHINGTON, May 10: US Secretary of State John Kerry believes sketching the borders of a future Palestinian state and agreeing to security arrangements for Israel will be “essential” if peace talks resume, the top US negotiator has said.
In his first public comments since negotiations collapsed last month, Martin Indyk candidly described the behind-the-scenes atmosphere between Israelis and Palestinians and voiced hopes the talks would resume soon.
Speaking late Thursday at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, Indyk said although the two sides both showed “flexibility” it was clear they “do not feel the pressing need to make the gut-wrenching compromises necessary to achieve peace.”
In the end despite nine months of “serious and intensive negotiations,” Indyk said it was “easier for the Palestinians to sign conventions and appeal to international bodies in their supposed pursuit of justice.
“It is easier for Israeli politicians to avoid tension in the governing coalition and for the Israeli people to maintain the current comfortable status quo,” said Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel.
“If we, the US, are the only party that has a sense of urgency, these negotiations will not succeed.”
Should the peace talks resume however, Kerry believes both sides must work on the future contours of a Palestinian state and security arrangements for Israel alongside the other core issues such as refugees and Jerusalem.
Indyk pointed to “unprecedented” work by General John Allen on how to secure Israel’s security, as well as a willingness by the Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to put the security of a future Palestinian state in US hands to overcome Israeli distrust.
“Once a border is agreed each party would be free to build in its own state,” Indyk argued, highlighting the tensions caused during the past months by announcements of Israeli plans for more than 12,800 new settlements in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. (AGENCIES)
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