JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says negotiations toward a cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip are making some progress after days of a deadly impasse between Israel and Hamas militants.
Kerry was not specific Wednesday in describing what he called steps forward in the negotiations as he met for a second time this week with United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.
Both Kerry and Ban are in the Mideast trying to broker a new truce between Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza.
More than 630 Palestinians and about 30 Israelis have been killed in most recent round of violence that began July 8.
Kerry flew into Israel’s main airport Wednesday despite a Federal Aviation Administration ban put in place a day earlier after a Hamas rocket landed nearby.
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He’s wasting his time. Neither side’s leadership wants peace. Hamas is cynically expending civilian lives in order to garner sympathy, and Bibi is cynically killing civilians in order to project an image of toughness. Both claim to be the victim while smiting one another with enthusiasm. A plague on both their houses. It’s high time that we cut all funding to the region, walked away, and let them settle this by themselves. Other than AIPAC and the Israel Firsters in congress, we have no interests there at all.
It’s time to take the bull by the tail and face matters directly - there’s never going to be peace in the region as long as a single Israeli or Palestinian is left alive. All of our efforts there are, to be blunt, a total waste of time and effort. Any ‘agreement’ reached will be breached within a matter of days, and than it’s back to the status quo ante. We have our own problems to deal with. Let them deal with their own.