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Kerry, the tourist

Secretary of State John Kerry has paid a visit to Israel amid an increasing wave of violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank, yet he has no new solutions to offer either side.
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After a long absence, US Secretary of State John Kerry returned to Israel Nov. 24, almost against his will. Without good tidings, without an agenda, without a clue about what to do now, he made an appearance as a wave of terror engulfs Israeli streets, as the Palestinian Authority (PA) loses its relevance and President Mahmoud Abbas seems more vulnerable than ever.

Prior to Kerry’s arrival, Ha’aretz published a news item about how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was open to an “attractive package of measures” to strengthen the PA in exchange for US recognition of Israeli construction in the settlement blocs. In essence, it would be a request to resurrect and reaffirm a letter from President George W. Bush to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in April 2004, about a year before the Gaza disengagement. That letter implied American recognition of demographic changes on the ground in the occupied territories. From this, one could deduce that the United States supported including the settlement blocs within Israeli territory under a future peace arrangement. What Netanyahu forgets is that Sharon received the letter from Bush after he had written the president about his intention to leave Gaza. Netanyahu, being Netanyahu, wants to get the goods but is not willing, or able, to pay the price.

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