(AFP) Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that the U.S. had negotiated at the Paris Middle East peace conference to prevent Israel being treated unfairly. He said U.S. diplomats insisted on strong language condemning Palestinian incitement and attacks on Israelis in the final statement. "Where we thought it was unbalanced and where we thought it was not expressing the kind of unity that I talked about, we fought to address it," Kerry said. "We did what was necessary to have a balanced resolution." Kerry confirmed that he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu during the Paris meeting to reassure him. Kerry said he had told Netanyahu: "We fully respect Israel's profound historic and religious ties to [Jerusalem] and to its holy sites. We've never questioned that. [The recent UN] resolution in no manner prejudges the outcome of permanent status negotiations for east Jerusalem which must reflect those historic ties and realities on the ground."
2017-01-16 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive