Kerry says settlements endanger peace

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Wednesday that Israel's building of settlements was endangering Middle East peace, expressing unusually frank frustration with the long-time American ally.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shot back at Kerry and accused him of showing bias against the Jewish state.  In a 70-minute speech just weeks before the Obama administration hands over to President-elect Donald Trump, Kerry said Israel "will never have true peace" with the Arab world if it does not reach an accord based on Israelis and Palestinians living in their own states. "Despite our best efforts over the years, the two-state solution is now in serious jeopardy," Kerry said at the State Department. "We cannot, in good conscience, do nothing, and say nothing, when we see the hope of peace slipping away." "The truth is that trends on the ground – violence, terrorism, incitement, settlement expansion and the seemingly endless occupation – are destroying hopes for peace on both sides and increasingly cementing an irreversible one-state reality that most people do not actually want." His parting words are unlikely to change anything on the ground between Israel and the Palestinians or salvage the Obama administration's record of failed Middle East peace efforts. In a statement, Netanyahu said Kerry's speech "was skewed against Israel." The Israeli leader said Kerry "obsessively dealt with settlements" and barely touched on "the root of the conflict - Palestinian opposition to a Jewish state in any boundaries".  Kerry's speech provided some insights into an issue that he personally feels passionate about and had hoped to resolve during his years as secretary of state. He defended the U.S. decision to allow the passage of a U.N. resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements, saying it was intended to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution. The United States abstained in the Dec. 23 U.N. resolution, in what many see as a parting shot by Obama who had an acrimonious relationship with Netanyahu. Kerry vigorously defended the U.N. resolution and rejected criticism "that this vote abandons Israel". “It is not this resolution that is isolating Israel. It is the permanent policy of settlement construction that risks making peace impossible."