Concrete Blocks At Jerusalem Stations – Unacceptable ‘Facts On The Ground’

By US Secretary of State John Kerry

The people of Israel have the sympathy of the United States government as they face mounting tension and violence. But responding to that violence by placing concrete blocks at train stations only creates facts on the ground that make a negotiated solution to the conflict more difficult to achieve.

Every move Israel makes has an impact on the outcome of negotiations, and the Israeli government has a responsibility not to prejudice the outcome of those negotiations. Placing concrete blocks at light rail stations, ostensibly to prevent drivers from killing passengers, makes it that much more difficult to reach a settlement, as each block becomes an established structure that threatens the prospects for an accord.

A preferable response to the spate of pedestrian casualties, from the US perspective, is to downplay them, or simply ignore them. That’s why we called the family of a US-citizenship-holding, Molotov-cocktail-throwing Palestinian killed by Israeli forces last week to express our condolences, while we did no such thing for the family of the three-month-old killed by a Palestinian driver, even though she, also, held citizenship. The same for the family of that Rabbi shot for agitating for Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount – he may be an American citizen, but you have to learn to ignore certain things or you can never implement a vision. Even making those phone calls would establish dangerous facts on the ground that are supremely difficult to undo.

This administration has gone to great lengths to encourage Israel and the Palestinians to reach negotiated settlement, since the absence of such a final agreement feeds the desperation and radicalism so prevalent in the Middle East, indeed, around the world, that we have seen in recent weeks and months. The danger of measures such as the concrete blocks is that it deprives the Palestinians of the prospect of making a real impact through their efforts to build a state, and without hope of fulfilling its dreams, no people can be expected to conduct negotiations.

We urge Israel to remove the concrete blocks at once. Such a confidence-building measure will not only demonstrate that Israel is serious about meeting Palestinian national aspirations; it will also diminish some of the diplomatic opprobrium that the country has garnered over other construction in Jerusalem. The fruits of the removal can then serve as a springboard for a return to negotiations.

The president and I harbor no illusions regarding the difficulty of removing existing construction, but Israel has done it before, and as a result opened a new era in direct exchanges of materiel with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Let us not spoil the future by sticking to the familiar patterns. Peace requires courage. We encourage you to demonstrate the courage of not establishing such facts on the ground.

H/t to Judge Dan (@JudgeDan48 on Twitter) for the concept.