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Kerry tells US Jewish leaders he fears for Israel’s future if no peace deal

By C. J. Refsland on August 9, 2013 • ( 2 )

My Comment: This sounds like a veiled threat to me. The west and yes the US included has created these demographic challenges, and it seems as this was the reason all along, to divide and conquer Jerusalem and other lands. Remember Joel 3. God has Israel’s Back always has and always will no matter what kerry or other leaders think.

At White House, secretary highlights Israel’s growing isolation, demographic challenges; Jewish leaders call for Abbas to moderate tone in upcoming UN speech

Secretary of State John Kerry and an elite US diplomatic team met with a small group of American Jewish leaders at the White House Thursday night to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that resumed last month.

An optimistic-sounding Kerry asked the Jewish leaders for their help in supporting the newly restarted talks, The Times of Israel learned, saying that he feared for Israel’s future if a peace deal is not reached.

Kerry told the fewer than two-dozen representatives of Jewish organizations that he really believes that both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas realize that there is a strategic imperative to act now. He noted that Israel faces the threat of diplomatic isolation and a demographic clock.

A number of the Jewish leaders pressed Kerry on Abbas’s upcoming address to the United Nations General Assembly. They expressed hope that Abbas would change the tone of his rhetoric during his speeches to the world body — a good-faith gesture to demonstrate outward Palestinian willingness to engage in peace talks. One observer noted that Kerry seemed receptive to the idea.

Other Jewish representatives pushed for Kerry to ask Abbas to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Kerry told the leaders that one of the lynchpins of the current peace process is the separation of Israel’s security assurances from the general negotiations, assurances he said would be guaranteed in a separate agreement with the US.

The security track is being worked out under the auspices of retired Marine Corps general John Allen, who is currently Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s special adviser for the Middle East Peace.

Kerry also emphasized the economic development track being pursued with the Palestinians, particularly the encouragement of private investment in the West Bank. The secretary of state, who announced less than a month ago the resumption of talks, said that this round of negotiations could be separated into five different components: security, economic development, international outreach, public outreach in the form of an open appeal for support, and the diplomatic negotiations themselves. These components, Kerry told the Jewish leaders, were effective when used in concert with the others.