Kerry: Palestinian leaders must stop incitement

The Palestinian leadership must cease inciting to violence and offer something concrete to Israelis, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday.

 

It is “absolutely vital” for Israel to take steps “that empower Palestinian leaders to improve economic opportunity and the quality of their lives on a day to day basis,” Kerry said in a speech in Washington to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

 

It is “equally important,” he said, “for Palestinian leaders to cease the incitement of violence and offer something more than rhetoric.”

 

Instead, the Palestinians need to “propose solutions that will contribute in a real way to the improvement of life, to the reduction of violence and to the safety and security of Israelis,” Kerry said.

 

His speech came the same day that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, said that “Israel is systematically violating the principles of international law and acting as a state above the law,” and called for International “protection” for the Palestinians.

 

Kerry, in his comments, said the current spasm of violence “hurts everyone” and is an indication of what things will look like if there is not a twostate solution.

 

“The current situation is simply not sustainable,” he said. “Firm and creative leadership on both sides is absolutely essential. A two-state solution with strong security protection remains the only viable alternative.” He added that the US “absolutely remains prepared” to do what it can to bring about this solution.

 

Meanwhile Abbas, speaking in Geneva, charged that the “status of human rights” in the territories and east Jerusalem “is the worst and most critical since 1948.”

 

Read More: Kerry: Palestinian leaders must stop incitement – Arab-Israeli Conflict – Jerusalem Post