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Kerry speaks of ‘unshakable bond’ with Israel, praises negotiators

By staff

PFLP urges rejection of negotiations

Washington, DC – Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking at a July 30 press conference that included Israeli Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat, stated, “The parties have agreed here today that all of the final status issues, all of the core issues and all other issues are all on the table for negotiation. And they are on the table with one simple goal: a view to ending the conflict, ending the claims.”

Kerry also denounced “pernicious attacks on Israel’s legitimacy,” and stated, “Our commitment to Israel’s security is why President Obama’s administration has done more than any before it to strengthen our unshakable bond and why General John Allen is on the ground working to ensure Israel’s security needs will be met.”

In a July 30 statement, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) demanded hidden information relating to the resumption of bilateral negotiations be revealed to the Palestinian public.

The PFLP statement noted that, “the U.S. Secretary of State’s promise to the Palestinian side, and its pledge to the Israeli side that it would be recognized as a ‘Jewish state’ negate each other, and deny the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and fundamentally deny the Palestinian narrative. This comes in addition to the fact that accepting the State Department’s pledge of ‘based on the 1967 borders’ itself defies the decision of the PLO Central Council and the position of the national and Islamic forces.”

The PFLP statement also said, “Kerry’s pledges are themselves a retreat from the commitments of former U.S. President Bush, who spoke of ending the occupation that began in 1967, and is reminiscent of the earlier unheeded pledges of the rounds of Mitchell, Ross, Indyk, Condoleeza Rice and U.S. President Obama at the beginning of his previous term at Cairo University.”

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