Russia’s Reaction to US Secretary of State Kerry’s Speech on Middle East Peace – Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Statement

Comment by the Information and Press Department on Remarks on Middle East Peace
Made by US Secretary of State John Kerry

2462-29-12-2016

On December 28, US Secretary of State John Kerry made an address on the Middle East peace, in which he set out Washington’s views on conditions for the successful peace talks between Palestine and Israel.

We have carefully analysed this statement. It is a fact that the absolute majority of the world’s nations support the international legal elements for the Middle East peace, which Mr Kerry reaffirmed in his speech, as well as the many aspects of the fundamental approach to the two-state solution he highlighted. This has been put on paper in various statements by the Middle East quartet of international mediators.

At the same time, we pointed out more than once that what matters is not a repetition of the stated principles for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement, even if these principles are perfectly fair, but practical efforts towards their implementation. This brings up the question why the US administration, which will leave office in less than a month, has decided to make its views on the Middle East peace public at this point, and why it did not do so in 2014, when the Washington-inspired Palestinian-Israeli talks reached a deadlock and the US administration had more time to implement its initiative.

Unfortunately, we have to state that it is not the first time that partisan interests have prevailed in Washington. The addition of internal US political considerations to the Middle East agenda will hardly help achieve the noble objective of resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as evidenced by the conflicting parties’ directly opposite reaction to this statement by the US Secretary of State.

http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/2583657