Israelis, Palestinians Agree: Peace Talks Not Accomplishing Anything

Both Sides Baffled by US Optimism

Secretary of State John Kerry is rushing back to Israel after his claims of major progress in the peace talks were dismissed, and both sides rejected it, and the Palestinians warned Kerry’s proposals risked turning the talks into a “total failure.”

The total lack of progress in the talks is something both Israel and the Palestinians can agree on, and one Palestinian official noted it was “impossible to understand” Kerry’s optimism when both sides had rejected his proposals.

Though there is said to have been some “common ground” between Israel and the US on pushing an interim “framework” agreement on the Palestinians, this is something the Palestinians have repeatedly rejected, insisting they want to talk a final deal on statehood and not just continue the endless “process” for its own sake.

The US has been trying to push the Palestinians into accepting terms they’ve long insisted are unacceptable, but is just fueling Palestinian pessimism that they’re never going to result in an actual statehood deal.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.