It is
believed to be the first time a US official of Kerry's standing has used the
term 'apartheid' in the context of Israel
theguardian.com,
Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem, Monday 28 April 2014
 |
| John Kerry, the US secretary of state. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images |
The US
secretary of state, John Kerry, has warned in a closed-door meeting that Israel
risks becoming an "apartheid state" if US-sponsored efforts to reach
an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement fail.
In an
apparent sign of Kerry's deep frustration over the almost certain collapse of
the current nine-month round of peace talks – due to conclude on Tuesday – he
blamed both sides for the lack of progress and said failure could lead to a
resumption of Palestinian violence against Israeli citizens.
The remarks
were made on Friday at the Trilateral Commission, a non-governmental
organisation of experts and officials from the US, western Europe, Russia and
Japan. A recording was acquired by the Daily Beast website.
Kerry also
suggested that a change of either Israeli or Palestinian leadership might
create more favourable conditions for peace and the final, long-delayed
agreement on the shape of a Palestinian state.
Kerry's
remarks represent a significant departure, as senior US officials historically
have avoided the word "apartheid" relating to Israeli policies. It is
believed to be the first time a US official of Kerry's standing has used the
contentious term in the context of Israel, even if only as a warning for the
future.
Although
the danger to Israel of a failure to move towards a two-state solution has been
framed by Israeli politicians in similar terms, US officials have long been
wary of following suit. When the former president Jimmy Carter used it for the
tile of his 2006 book Palestine: Peace or Apartheid, it caused controversy.
Kerry's
comments reflect similar recent warnings to Israel from western diplomats that
the collapse of the peace talks might lead to the country's increasing
isolation.
Kerry said:
"A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real
alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state
with second-class citizens – or it ends up being a state that destroys the
capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state.
"Once
you put that frame in your mind, that reality, which is the bottom line, you
understand how imperative it is to get to the two-state solution, which both
leaders, even yesterday, said they remain deeply committed to."
Kerry has
had a sometimes strained relationship with some senior Israeli officials as the
peace talks have become gridlocked. In January Israel's defence minister, Moshe
Ya'alon, described Kerry as "obsessive and messianic".
In 2008 in
an interview during his election campaign, Barack Obama explicitly rejected
"injecting a term like apartheid" into the discussion over Israel and
Palestine. "It's emotionally loaded, historically inaccurate, and it's not
what I believe," he said.
Attempting
to defuse the row, Jen Psaki, spokesperson for the US state department, said:
"Secretary Kerry, like justice minister Livni and previous Israeli prime
ministers Olmert and Barak, was reiterating why there's no such thing as a
one-state solution if you believe, as he does, in the principle of a Jewish
state.
"[Kerry]
was talking about the kind of future Israel wants and the kind of future both
Israelis and Palestinians would want to envision. The only way to have two
nations and two peoples living side by side in peace and security is through a
two-state solution. And without a two-state solution, the level of prosperity
and security the Israeli and Palestinian people deserve isn't possible."
The
Emergency Committee for Israel, whose chairman is the prominent
neo-conservative William Kristol, said: "On Friday, secretary of state
John Kerry raised the spectre of Israel as an 'apartheid state'. Even Barack
Obama condemned the use of this term when running for president in 2008. It is
no longer enough for the White House to clean up after the messes John Kerry
has made. It is time for John Kerry to step down as secretary of state, or for
President Obama to fire him."
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