Kerry says ceasefire must meet needs of both sides

US Secretary of State John Kerry says in a statement during a meeting with his Turkish and Qatari counterparts in Paris that the ceasefire proposal being negotiated involves arrangements for Israeli security and economic and social development for the Palestinians.

“I understand that Palestinians need to live with dignity, with some – freedom, with goods that can come in and out, and they need a life that is free from the current restraints that they feel on a daily basis, and obviously free from violence,” Kerry says. “But at the same time, Israelis need to live free from rockets and from tunnels that threaten them, and every conversation we’ve had embraces a discussion about these competing interests that are real for both. And so we need to have a solution that works at this.”

“The tunnels have to be dealt with,” the American diplomat says, referring to Hamas’s subterranean military infrastructure used to attack Israel. “We understand that; we’re working at that. By the same token, the Palestinians can’t have a cease-fire in which they think the status quo is going to stay and they’re not going to have the ability to be able to begin to live and breathe more freely and move within the crossings and begin to have goods and services that come in from outside.”