Congress Rebukes The UN For Condemning Illegal Israeli Settlements

[LurkerJ]

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned as biased a speech by outgoing US Secretary of State John Kerry on Israeli-Palestinian issues.

Mr Kerry said the prospect of a peace deal based on a two-state solution was in grave jeopardy.
Israeli settlement building on occupied land was a major problem, he said.

Mr Netanyahu said he was disappointed with the speech, which he said was "unbalanced" and "obsessively focused" on settlements.

Mr Kerry had "paid lip service to the unremitting Palestinian campaign of terrorism" against Israel, he said.

France, which will host an international conference to lay down the framework for a future peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians in Paris in January, indicated support for Mr Kerry's position.

In his speech, Mr Kerry said that despite Israeli claims to the contrary, UN condemnation of illegal Jewish settlements on occupied land was in line with American values.

"The two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It is the only way to ensure Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state. That future is now in jeopardy," he said.
He added: "The Israeli prime minister publicly supports a two-state solution, but his current coalition is the most right-wing in Israeli history with an agenda driven by the most extreme elements.

"The result is that policies of this government, which the prime minister himself just described as more committed to settlements than any Israel's history, are leading in the opposite direction. They are leading towards one state."
The French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said Mr Kerry's speech was "clear, committed and courageous".

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38455753