Kerry says current violence between Israelis, Palestinians ‘not sustainable’
UN warns of ‘catastrophe’; two terror attacks in West Bank in an hour; one Israeli woman injured
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians “is yet another indication of the folly of believing that efforts at permanent peace and reconciliation are somehow not worth pursuing.”
“The current situation is simply not sustainable over time,” Kerry said as new knife attacks struck the volatile West Bank.
Kerry said that the US is committed to advancing the two-state solution, which he described as “the only viable alternative.”
“Anybody who thinks otherwise can measure what unitary looks like by just looking at what’s been occurring over the past few weeks,” he said.
“Israel should support Palestinians they can work with and take steps on the ground and Palestinians should stop incitement, offer more than just rhetoric and take into consideration Israeli security needs.”
An Israeli woman was moderately wounded in a stabbing attack in the West Bank, while a Palestinian allegedly tried to stab an Israeli soldier and was shot dead in another, the police and army said.
World leaders desperately want to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that collapsed in April 2014, to avoid a deeper slide into violence that many fear could lead to a third Palestinian intifada.
But Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said “it is no longer useful to waste time in negotiations” and warned a continuation of the violence could “kill the last shred of hope for the two-state-solution-based peace.”
Read More: Kerry says current violence between Israelis, Palestinians ‘not sustainable’ | i24news – See beyond