Israeli broadcasters released audio of John Kerry speaking last year at a conference in Dubai. While the full context of the remarks is unclear, he does state some undeniable truths about the Palestinian peace process that US leaders would never say in public.
For starters, Kerry is heard speaking about the Palestinian’s “extraordinary job of remaining committed to nonviolence.” Kerry cited the example of the Palestinian restraint during the period known as the Knife Intifada, saying that when it “took place [Palestinians] delivered non-violence in the West Bank.”
Kerry apparently factored this reality into the rest of his remarks, when he went on to say that it wasn’t Palestine stalling the Middle East peace process. According to Kerry, the Palestinian commitment to nonviolence is “overlooked by the general [Israeli] population.” Kerry went on to rhetorically ask why the Israelis might fail to mention the fact that the majority of Palestinians aren’t calling for an armed conflict with Israel. Answering his own question, Kerry said the reason was simple: “Because the majority of the cabinet currently in the current Israeli government has publicly declared they are not ever for a Palestinian state.” Also in Kerry’s remarks were several warnings about the inevitable evolution of the apartheid standoff over Palestine. Kerry assumed the next step for the Palestinian liberation movement would likely be mass civil disobedience, or as Kerry describe it, “40,000 kids marching up to the wall every day with signs saying ‘give us our rights.” It was Kerry’s opinion that Palestine isn’t “going to be immune forever to the civil rights movements that have swept other nations in the world.” Protest is already a large part of Palestinian organization so it’s not like this day would be far off. What Kerry was more concerned about is what happens when Israel likely continues to ignore these demands.
In what Israeli leadership probably considers violent terms, Kerry
went on to warn that “If you don’t have leaders who don’t want to make peace, if the equation doesn’t change, I’ll be amazed if within the next 10 years if we don’t see some young [Palestinian] leader come along who says we have tried non-violence for the last 30 years and look, it hasn’t gotten us anything.” Netanyahu’s statement went on to say the “security of Israel” would remain his top priority “even if those who tried to push him into making dangerous concessions, and failed, don’t like it.”
“The reason why there is no peace is first and foremost the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel at any borders. Even now they are suing the British government over the Balfour Declaration. It’s unfortunate that John Kerry has not yet understood this,” Netanyahu’s statement added.
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