Secretary of State John Kerry is a veteran and experienced politician. You won’t catch him saying the word “occupation,” not even when he refers to the territories captured in the 1967 war, which has its 46th anniversary this week. When an American politician appears at the AJC Global Forum, the American Jewish Committee, he is especially careful in choosing his words. So when Kerry told such a pro-Israel audience in Washington that “the status quo is simply not sustainable,” he actually meant that continuing to tread water is detrimental to Israel. When Kerry said to Jewish activists, “being secure in its future as a Jewish state, but also a democratic state,” he was hinting that Israel is on the verge of a head-on collision between these two central principles. Even now, the population living between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River is made up of 5.9 million Jews living side-by-side with 6 million non-Jews. In other words, Kerry is saying that time works against Israel’s most vital interest — maintaining its Jewish and democratic identity.
According to a report presented this week by Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Kerry has allocated two more months for the renewal of negotiations. Judging by the place accorded to this issue on Israel’s public agenda, most of its decision-makers and opinion-shapers believe time is on Israel’s side. They are wrong.