Why Kerry is prioritizing Syria over Israeli-Palestinian peace
Calming Israeli-Palestinian tensions is seen as limited mission as US Secretary of State John Kerry embarks on a new round of international diplomacy on Syria.
Washington — US Secretary of State John Kerry returned Oct. 25 from a five-day trip to Europe and the Middle East focused on advancing a diplomatic process for Syria that is seen as an increasingly urgent priority for some of the United States' closest allies in Europe and the region. While Kerry also met with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders on the trip and proposed measures to try to restore calm, diplomats and current and former officials saw little chance of the United States embarking on a new Israel-Palestine peace push because chances for progress are seen to be so limited and because the urgency of ending the 4½-year-old Syrian war, countering the threat posed by the Islamic State and stemming the Syrian refugee influx have become top national security priorities, especially for Europe.
“Syria, for the US, for Europe … is the next priority,” Ghaith al-Omari, an expert on Palestinian issues at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Al-Monitor Oct. 26. “Syria has become such a central point [especially] for the Europeans, I don’t see any oxygen for dealing with anything else.”
“On the Israel-Palestinian front, I don’t see any potential for any progress between [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu on the one hand and [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas on the other,” Omari said. “There is no sense if you start anything that these two leaders will play ball.”
On Syria, “we feel a sense of urgency,” Kerry told reporters after a meeting with the Russian, Saudi and Turkish foreign ministers in Vienna Oct. 23. He said there will likely be a bigger follow-up meeting as early as Oct. 30 in Paris, which will include more parties.
