Hard to understand Israeli attacks on Kerry, says Indyk

Speaking on Channel 2, former US special Middle East envoy for peace talks Martin Indyk says that attacks in the Israeli media on John Kerry are “a little hard to understand.”

“People in Washington are scratching heads wondering what caused such a response in Israel. People in Israel should understand there’s strong support for what Israel’s going through.”

Indyk adds that there is concern for civilian casualties on Palestinian side. “The pictures here of children dead or wounded is really heartbreaking. And that’s why the President and Secretary Kerry are working hard to try to get a ceasefire, and they’re doing that in close coordination with Prime Minister Netanyahu…So why the Israeli press in particular have launched this attack on the Secretary is something that people find a little hard to understand.”

“I think what happened was there was a common desire to achieve a ceasefire,” Indyk explains. “After all, Israel has said it is willing to have a ceasefire really from the outset of this war. And the Secretary came out to work on that. I think when he got to Egypt, he discovered that the Egyptians for their own reasons were not particularly interested in a ceasefire, so he went to work with those who have some influence on hamas [Qatar and Turkey], who can stop them from firing the rockets.”

“It’s important to understand that when Hamas made its reconciliation agreement with Fatah, which was renounced in Israel, but which provided for Abu Mazen to take control in Gaza, [it] meant that Hamas resigned its government positions there, accepted that the Palestinian Authority can take control.”

“There is an opportunity now is what I’m saying, because in Palestinian politics Abu Mazen and the Palestinian Authority has been designated as taking control of Gaza. But what does that mean if you have militias with arms and trained men. That why disarmament becomes important.”

“Disarmament is important not because Israel demands it, but because Abu Mazen strongly believes in the principle of one government, one gun…That’s not going to happen overnight. There’s no magic wand here.”

“If the Israeli army had gone into Gaza, taken over, toppled Hamas and disarmed it, there’d be very different circumstances. But Hamas will still have its arms, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other militias as well.”

“Establishing order there is going to be a real challenge.”