U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Israel is on course to become an “apartheid state” if it does not make peace soon with the Palestinians.
The explosive comments were revealed early Monday morning by The Daily Beast which obtained a secret recording of Kerry’s comments. The secretary of state reportedly made the comments during a closed-door meeting on Friday of the Trilateral Commission, a non-governmental organization that seeks to strengthen ties between North America, Europe, and Japan.
“A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative,” Kerry stated at the meeting. “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.”
According to The Daily Beast, Kerry blamed both Israeli and Palestinian leaders for stalled peace talks and questioned whether a change in leadership would help bolster peace negotiations and reach a settlement. If “there is a change of government or a change of heart,” Kerry said, “something will happen.”
He also criticized Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria, which Kerry says is unhelpful to the peace process. “There is a fundamental confrontation and its over settlements. Fourteen thousand new settlement units announced since we began negotiations. It’s very difficult for any leader to deal under that cloud,” Kerry said.
Kerry also said that with frustrations mounting, he may push forth his own peace deal and tell both sides to “take it or leave it.”
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told The Daily Beast that Kerry was only repeating his views which others share with him. The secretary of state has always maintained that a two-state solution is the only viable solution for peace.
“Secretary Kerry, like Justice Minister Livni, and previous Israeli Prime Ministers Olmert and Barak, were 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. He was talking about the kind of future Israel wants and the kind of future both Israelis and Palestinians would want to envision,” she said.
“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 Obama administration has steered clear of using the term ‘apartheid’ to refer to Israel. In 2008, Obama said using the label in association with Israel is “emotionally loaded, historically inaccurate, and it’s not what I believe.”
Kerry remains hopeful that peace negotiations will eventually resume between both sides. He said he would not “declare it [peace talks] dead.”
“You would say this thing is going to hell in a hand basket, and who knows, it might at some point, but I don’t think it is right now, yet,” Kerry stated.
