Kerry to lay out plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace process

Before President Obama leaves office, Secretary of State John Kerry allegedly plans to lay out “a comprehensive vision” for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. 

“I wouldn’t describe it as new initiatives, I think what Secretary Kerry will be doing is he will give a speech in which he lays out a comprehensive vision for how he sees the conflict being resolved,” deputy national security adviser for strategic communications Ben Rhodes told Israel’s Channel 2, as first reported by Bloomberg.

Rhodes was addressing whether or not the United States had additional initiatives planned following its choice — slammed by President-elect Donald Trump — to abstain from the U.N. Security Council vote last week that formally condemned Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

{mosads}The 14-0 vote called settlements a “flagrant violation” of international law.

Since the vote, Israel has reportedly reduced diplomatic relations with 12 countries, though the individual Israeli ambassadors will remain in the countries. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro for a personal meeting following the resolution, though the United States was not one of the 12 countries.