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Kerry Delivers Ambiguity To Shuttle Diplomacy

Kerry's mission and the failure to resume the negotiations on a more firm and clear basis than those tried before are examined.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives for a news conference at Queen Alia International Airport in the Jordanian capital of Amman July 19, 2013. Israel and the Palestinians have laid the groundwork for a resumption of peace talks after an almost three-year stalemate, Kerry said on Friday. REUTERS/Mandel Ngan/Pool (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX11S9P

The only thing that everybody agreed on at the end of the much awaited trilateral US-Palestinian-Arab meeting in Amman and the set of US-Palestinian meetings, is that ambiguity still prevailed. This is how one can sum up Secretary of State John Kerry's sixth visit to the region to meet with the Palestinian leadership and the Arab League follow-up committee on the Palestinian issue after the first meeting that took place in Washington on April 29.

The Palestinian leadership could not afford to say a straight “no” to the Kerry mission because it risks putting an end to his peace efforts, something it has been yearning for for some time now, urging the US administration repeatedly to restart negotiations. So it is a "yes but," sending its strong reservations, namely via the leaked PLO intensive discussions on the issue and the one-day delay about the absence in the Kerry proposal of a clear commitment on the part of Israel: A commitment to accept the June 4, 1967, border line as the basis for restarting serious negotiations leading to the establishment of the Palestinian state.

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