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‘What is the alternative to peace?’ Kerry asked at a joint news conference with the Jordanian foreign minister, Nasser Judeh. ‘Prolonged continued conflict. The absence of peace really means you have a sort of low-grade conflict, war.’
‘As long as the aspirations of people are held down one way or another ... as long as there is this conflict and if the conflict frustrates once again so that people cannot find a solution, the possibilities of violence’ increase, he said.
Kerry appealed for Israelis and Palestinians to take the peace process seriously and for their leaders to overcome differences that have hamstrung the talks since they began three months ago with the goal of reaching a deal by the end of April, 2014. He acknowledged the hurdles, but said he was convinced that both the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, were committed to the negotiations
‘I am pleased to say that despite difficulties, and we all understand what they are, these discussions have been productive,’ he said.
‘Both prime minister Netanyahu and President Abbas reaffirmed their commitment to these negotiations despite the fact that at moments there are obviously tensions over one happening or another or one place or another, whether it is in Israel or the territories,’ Kerry said.
Earlier Thursday, Kerry told Jordan’s King Abdullah II that his meetings had ‘created some clarity on some of the points.’ He did not elaborate, but said at the news conference with Judeh that there was ‘significant progress in our discussions about a couple of areas of concern in the panorama of concerns that exist.’
A statement from Jordan’s Royal Palace said Abdullah, a close US Arab ally, said final status talks involve ‘higher Jordanian interest,’ mainly a common border with a future Palestinian state, the fate of Jordan-based Palestinian refugees displaced in the 1967 Mideast war and Jerusalem, where the kingdom maintains custody over Christian and Muslim holy sites.