BICOM

In his first public comments since the deadline to conclude peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) expired this week, US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that progress was made during the negotiations.

Kerry spearheaded the resumption of talks for a nine-month period in July last year and his determination was instrumental in maintaining the negotiations during this time. However, the two sides failed to reach agreement on what Kerry promoted as a framework agreement on core issues. Speaking yesterday in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, Kerry said that the talks nonetheless were not fruitless. He commented, “These eight months, eight months plus were not without significant progress in certain areas. And I don’t think anybody wants to lose that progress.” Kerry pledged that although it had “not been laid out publicly … what I will do at some appropriate moment of time is make clear to everybody the progress that was made.”

Kerry also expressed muted hope that peace talks could resume in the future. He commented, “I personally remain convinced that as each (side) sort of works through the reasons that things began to become more difficult in the final hours, there may be quiet ways within which to begin to work on next steps.” Although he accepted that “the best thing to do right now is pause, take a hard look at these things and find out what is possible and what is not possible in the days ahead,” Kerry emphasised, “Both parties still indicate that they feel it’s important to negotiate and want to find a way to negotiate.”

Kerry also added that last week’s agreement by the Fatah faction of PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas to form a unity government “came as a complete and total unannounced event.” The announcement prompted Israel to suspend peace talks, as Hamas is committed to Israel’s destruction. Hamas is also classified as a terrorist group by both the United States and the European Union.