US Secretary of State John Kerry set off a firestorm of media attention on Tuesday when, during testimony before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, he appeared to place the primary blame for the breakdown in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Israeli building in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. After both sides spent time working towards crafting a deal to extend negotiations for nine months past the 30 April deadline, Israel delayed the release of Palestinian security prisoners and then “a day went by. Day two went by. Day three went by. And then in the afternoon, when they were about to maybe get there, 700 settlement units were announced in Jerusalem and, poof, that was sort of the moment,” Kerry said. Read More
