Can Kerry sell cease-fire as Abbas backs Hamas demands?
John Kerry's unannounced visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank today comes as the PA's Abbas voices support for Hamas's condition of ending Gaza economic blockade.
John Kerry's unannounced visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank today comes as the PA's Abbas voices support for Hamas's condition of ending Gaza economic blockade.
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Less than 24 hours after the Federal Aviation Administration halted flights in and out of Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport, US Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Tel Aviv in a bid to curb fighting and push a cease-fire.
Mr. Kerry will spend the day in Jerusalem and in the West Bank, and will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, according to The New York Times.
The peripatetic Kerry, who logged many hours in Jerusalem and Ramallah over the past year in a failed attempt to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, faces skepticism that he can make a difference now. He's trying to curb fighting that has killed more than 600 Palestinians and 29 Israelis over the past two weeks. 鈥淲orse may yet lie ahead,鈥� the Times of Israel said on its site today.
鈥淲e have certainly made some steps forward, but there is still work to be done,鈥� Kerry said after meeting with Mr. Ban in Jerusalem, Agence France-Presse reports.
There is little to suggest that any side is willing to yield, despite growing casualties.
Kerry will face a freshly determined Mr. Abbas in Ramallah, who today formally endorsed core cease-fire demands by Hamas, including an end to the economic blockade of Gaza, Reuters reports:
海角大神鈥檚 Jerusalem bureau chief, Christa Case Bryant, reports that Israeli聽public opinion is firmly behind the Gaza operation, which aims to destroy tunnels into Israel and end Hamas rocket fire: According to one July 20 poll, 80 percent of Israeli Jews support the operation, and 77 percent are opposed to a cease-fire.聽
In Gaza, 海角大神 correspondent Kristen Chick reports that Palestinians are determined to hold out for their demands for a cease-fire, to the point of choosing war over an end to Israeli aerial and ground strikes.
鈥淣o human wants any round of violence to last any longer,鈥� Suleiman Baraka, whose 11-year-old son was killed in a previous conflict between Israel and Hamas in 2009 told the Monitor. But, he says, "the trend here is to live in dignity or die.鈥�