Kerry laments failed peace process in exit memo

Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to resume stalled peace talks, lamenting the fact that his peace efforts failed.

In an exit memo to President Barack Obama, Kerry also lauded the nuclear deal with Iran which, he claimed, left Iran “at least a year away” from being able to produce a nuclear weapon.

“On Israeli-Palestinian peace,” Kerry wrote, “we have remained committed to realizing the vision of a two-state solution: a secure, democratic Jewish state of Israel living side-by-side with an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian state.

“During my time in office, we worked very hard to restart negotiations between the two sides to see if progress was indeed possible. Unfortunately, the parties were not willing to make the difficult choices necessary to move forward with the negotiations,” he wrote.

“Since then, we have been calling on the parties to demonstrate with policies and actions a genuine commitment to the two-state solution and to create the conditions for the resumption of successful negotiations. I sincerely hope for the future of both Israelis and Palestinians alike that their leaders will make the difficult choices necessary to advance the prospects for peace,” added Kerry.

 

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