BICOM

US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki sought to clarify Secretary of State John Kerry’s position on the responsibility for the recent breakdown in the peace process yesterday. This followed remarks by Kerry which were interpreted as putting blame on Israel. Psaki said, “John Kerry has been crystal clear that both sides have taken unhelpful steps and at no point has he engaged in a blame game. He even singled out by name Prime Minister Netanyahu for having made courageous decisions throughout the process.”

Testifying before congress, Kerry said “both sides, whether advertently or inadvertently wound up in positions where things happened that were unhelpful,” Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Unfortunately, the [Palestinian] prisoners weren’t released on the Saturday they were supposed to be released, and – and so day [one] went by, day two went by, day three went by, and then in the afternoon, when they were about to maybe get there, 700 settlement units were announced in Jerusalem, and poof, that was sort of the moment,” he said.

The Israeli cabinet was preparing to vote on an agreement to extend negotiations by another nine months last week, which would have involved further prisoner releases and restrictions on settlement construction. However, they suspended the deal after the Palestinian Authority (PA) signed letters of application to 15 international conventions, a unilateral step that contravened previous understandings. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have been meeting daily, along with US envoy Martin Indyk throughout the last week to attempt to salvage the deal.

“My hope is the parties will find a way back. We’re working with them to try to do so, but they have to … make that fundamental decision, and I hope they will,” he said.

Last week Kerry cancelled plans to visit the region and said he would be returning home for a “reality check” on what may happen next. Kerry has said that the peace process cannot be “open ended” and when referring to the US’s involvement in the talks, said, “there are limits to the time the president and I … can commit to this.”