John Kerry rebukes Israel over settlement expansion

John Kerry has delivered a stinging rebuke of the Israeli government, accusing it of making the establishment of a viable Palestinian state nearly impossible through the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

With Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu joining forces with president-elect Donald Trump to attack the Obama administration, the US secretary of state said Washington allowed a UN resolution critical of Israel to pass last week as a last-ditch effort to keep the idea of a "two-state solution" alive.

In the most detailed criticism by a US official of Israeli settlement construction, Mr Kerry said the West Bank was being "broken up into small parcels like a Swiss cheese that can never constitute a real state". In a speech at the state department, he added: "The United States cannot properly defend Israel if we allow a viable two-state solution to be destroyed before our eyes."

The US abstention last week at the UN on a resolution condemning settlements prompted a furious reaction from Mr Netanyahu.

Russo-Turkish ceasefire in Syria could be game-changer

---

Kerry speech biased against Israel - Binyamin Netanyahu

---

Germany holds Tunisian over possible link to Berlin attack

---

How a salesman ripped up the rule book of US election politics

---

As well as aggravating the already toxic relationship between Mr Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, the furore opened up an unprecedented rift between the sitting Democratic president and his Republican successor, who yesterday pledged to change approach when he takes office next month.

"We cannot let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect," Mr Trump said on Twitter ahead of Mr Kerry's speech. "The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!"

‘Clear-cut support’

Mr Netanyahu followed suit, saying on Twitter: “President-elect Trump, thank you for your warm friendship and your clear-cut support for Israel!”

The last-minute stance by the Obama administration reflects its concern that time is running out for a two-state solution because of Israeli settlement building. Officials fear the Trump administration could side more openly with the Israeli government in a way that would make further negotiations impossible. Mr Kerry warned Israel against closing off the prospect of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

“If the choice is one state, Israel can be either a Jewish state or a democratic state,” he said. “It cannot be both.”

Mr Netanyahu described Mr Kerry’s speech as a “big disappointment”, accusing him of drawing a “false moral equivalence” between construction in Jerusalem and Palestinian terrorism.

In a live television address, covered by Israel’s three main television stations, Mr Netanyahu said the focus on Jewish settlements in Mr Kerry’s address was “obsessive”.

Final addresses

The prime minister expressed “surprise” that Mr Kerry dedicated one of his final addresses to the conflict, as the “Middle East is in flames” and Israel is the only democracy in the region, the only place in the Middle East where Christians can celebrate Christmas, he said.

Mr Netanyahu said he looked forward to working with the Trump administration to repeal the UN Security Council resolution.

“I wish I could be comforted,” he said, by Mr Kerry’s promise not to seek further UN action, but he said the US had said the same thing about the previous resolution.

There is “absolute, incontestable evidence that the United States organised” and advanced the UN resolution, Mr Netanyahu argued. “Some of it is sensitive; it’s all true,” he said of the information.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said he is ready to resume peace talks if Israel freezes settlement construction.

Responding to Mr Kerry’s speech, Mr Abbas said that he is ready to resume talks “within a specific time frame and on the basis of international law”.

Additional reporting: Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016