Excerpts: Kerry re Palestinian statehood tensions December 13, 2014

+++Source: Al Arabiya News 13 Dec.’14:”U.S. Sec. of State Kerry seeks to
avert U.N. crisis on Middle East”, Staff Writer,with Reuters

SUBJECT: Kerry re Palestinian statehood tensions

QUOTE:”Kerry: ’We’re trying to figure out a way to help defuse the tensions
and reduce the potential for more conflict and we’re exploring various
possibilities to that end’ “

FULL TEXT U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday[12 he hoped to
avert tensions over Palestinian statehood during U.N. meetings in Europe
next week.

“We’re trying to figure out a way to help defuse the tensions and reduce the
potential for more conflict and we’re exploring various possibilities to
that end,” Kerry told reporters in Colombia when asked whether there is a
resolution the United States could support, according to Reuters.

The Palestinians are fiercely campaigning to submit a draft resolution to
the U.N. Security Council calling for Israeli occupation of Palestinian
territory to do end by November 2016. Jordan has already circulated a
proposal to the 15-member council; which some Western diplomats slammed
“unbalanced.”

Jordan’s U.N. Ambassador Dina Kawar said she hoped a resolution could be put
forward for a vote in December or January.

Kerry will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Rome on
Monday[15 Dec.] and other senior European officials to discuss possible
resolutions. The Palestinian resolution is likely to be vetoed by
Washington.

“There are a lot of different folks pushing in different directions out
there, and the question is can we all pull in the same direction,” Kerry
said. “That’s what we’re looking at.”

Some countries believe agreement on a resolution would be easier to achieve
before Israeli elections due to be held in March.

“Waiting until April and therefore probably facing a Palestinian draft in
the Security Council in January, vetoed by the Americans, will just make the
situation worse,” a senior Western diplomat, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told Reuters.

“If there is a window of opportunity for a consensus resolution it might be
this month,” the diplomat said.

Kerry met French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on the sidelines of a
climate conference in Peru on Thursday[11 Dec.] to talk about a European
proposal.

He also called Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday[12 Dec.] to
discuss “developments in Israel, the West Bank, Jerusalem and the region, as
well as current initiatives at the U.N.,” a U.S. official said.

Kerry and Lavrov will meet in Rome on Monday[15 Dec.] to discuss the same
issues, as well as Ukraine and Syria, State Department spokeswoman Marie
Harf said.

Later on Friday[12 Dec.], Kerry talked to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas,
the State Department said in a statement.

Palestinians seek statehood in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and blockaded
Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as their capital - lands captured by Israel
in a 1967 war.

Israel accepts the idea of a “two-state solution” of an independent and
democratic Palestinian state existing alongside Israel, but has not accepted
the 1967 borders as the basis for final negotiations, citing security and
other concerns.

=================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA