December 17, 2013 | Quote
Report: Palestinians Reject Kerry Peace Plan
Secretary of State John Kerry’s Middle East peace plan appeared to unravel late last week after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas rejected “most” of the key details, according to regional experts and media reports.
Kerry landed in Israel on Thursday for another round of talks between Palestinian and Israeli leaders as he pushes them to accept the parameters of a U.S.-backed security plan and interim agreement.
However, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly rejected many key elements of the deal, claiming that it was too kind to Israel.
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Middle East expert Jonathan Schanzer said the United States appears to be pushing its goals further back in response to Palestinian opposition.
The idea of an interim framework “to me looks like the administration is moving the goal posts and that could be what Abbas is responding to,” Schanzer said.
“It sounds to me like the admin is beginning to understand some of its potential limitations,” said Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). “It could be now hedging and talking about a framework as opposed to a deal that gets done by April. That does appear to be a hedge.”