Kerry chastises Israeli and Palestinian leaders

Netanyahu’s comments were made as response to a rebuke by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who accused the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships for the long-stalled peace process that blocks the two-state solution.

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned yesterday about the consequences of any collapse of the Palestinian Authority, saying it would be a threat to Israel.

On Friday. Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom says Israel is conducting “extra-judicial executions” of Palestinian stabbers, shooters and drivers using their vehicles to mow down innocent Israelis.

The Saban Forum, an annual conference held by the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute, this year includes addresses from Kerry, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The U.S., the global community and many Israelis have endorsed the “two-state solution” – establishing a Palestinian state and ending Israel’s control over millions of Palestinians in territories occupied in the 1967 war. If that happens, Kerry says, Israel would be forced to assume all governance in the West Bank and potentially accept a one-state solution that would compromise Israel’s future as a democratic Jewish state.

He condemned the months of Palestinian attacks on Israelis as well as Israel’s continued settlement construction on lands envisioned for a Palestinian state.

“The [Swedish] foreign minister suggests that Israeli citizens simply give their necks to the murderers trying to stab them with knives”, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

At his weekly cabinet meeting, Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Israel will not be a binational state, but in order to have peace, the other side needs to decide that it wants peace as well”.

Tzipi Hotovely, Deputy Foreign Minister, said that she is going to have a meeting with Netanyahu who is also a foreign minister of Israel to work out “sharp response” to the Wallstrom’s statement.

Since October 1, nearly daily assaults and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers and violence between Palestinians and Israeli settlers have killed 109 Palestinians, including an Israeli Arab, 17 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean, according to an AFP count.

Since then, 19 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings and shootings.

Tensions between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip continue unabated.

“Unfortunately, this is what we see: Primarily, the incitement in the Palestinian Authority continues. Israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself”, he said.