Israel – Justice Minister Tzipi Livni stressed the importance of compromise in her support for the expected US-brokered framework deal on the Middle East peace process at the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations mission in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
“We all need to make decisions,” she said. “The Palestinians must understand this is a moment for decision making and there’s a price.”
Livni stressed that while Israel might not be “in love” with US Secretary of State John Kerry’s framework, she is “sure that we can live with it” as long as it is balanced. “Kerry is a game changer in the Israeli Palestinian peace process.”
Livni said she wants to keep existing settlement blocs for the practical reason of population density, not for ideological reasons of historic right, adding that she doesn’t support building isolated settlements or Israeli homes as security buffers.
“To those who speak against the 2005 Gaza withdrawal, do you really think that Israeli citizens should return there?” she asked. “Young citizens shouldn’t be sent to live somewhere to provide security for the state.”
The American framework deal Kerry hopes to negotiate by April of this year has met with criticism and skepticism from both Israelis and Palestinians.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has set the precondition that Israel be recognized as a Jewish state, which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has dismissed. Netanyahu has objected to Abbas’ suggestion that NATO troops remain in a future Palestinian state as a buffer force.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
Oh look, another politician is trying to convince me that Kerry isn’t really trying to undermine the security of Israel by forcing it into a “peace” deal in which the Palestinians who sole interest is the destruction of any Jewish presence anywhere in the levant. Which game is Kerry going to change, he works for Obama. Hope and change are cheap words these days.
If the Palestinian Authority “dismisses” the basis of peace there is nothing to talk about and any negotiator should recognize that and walk away.
maybe we should get AlterG as a mediator…
Kerry is a game changer. It’s just like when the plug is pulled out and the game stops working.