John Kerry, as always a statesman, on Israel/Palestine

[karynnj]

4. I understand what you are saying

You are misinterpreting my meaning. I am NOT disagreeing that Israel intentionally missed the date and is negotiating for more to do what they agreed to do. Netanyahu said they needed to "get something for it". My point was that given that there were still negotiations on the release, that arguing over a few days weakens him in terms of who is blamed.

If he had not done this - especially as he had said he would continue the talks until the end of April - what would have been seen was that Israel reneged. In fact, they also have acted against the spirit of the agreement at many points by continuing to build settlements.

In fact, the right wing of Netanyahu's party has publicly disparaged everyone involved in the effort - especially John Kerry. In addition, Netanyahu has - since he entered office - blatantly disrespected the idea of returning to 67 borders even with land swaps.

As to Kerry - he did not assess blame at all -- therefore he did not say they were equally at fault. What he did say was that he (and the US) were willing to facilitate their negotiations -- and he stated the obvious - the two governments need to agree.

As to history, I predict Netanyahu will be seen to have thrown away the last chance at a Jewish democracy. I wish I could see this as the first step to a peaceful process ending with a pluralistic democracy where everyone has the same rights which would be in fact a better result. Netanyahu and the right are even more against this.