Theresa May has distanced the UK from Washington over John Kerry\u2019s condemnation of Israel, in comments that appear to be designed to build bridges with the incoming Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Kerry, the outgoing secretary of state, delivered a robust speech this week that criticised Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government as the \u201cmost rightwing coalition in Israeli history\u201d and warned that the rapid expansion of settlements in the occupied territories meant that \u201cthe status quo is leading toward one state and perpetual occupation\u201d.<\/p>\n
The prime minister\u2019s spokesman said May thought it was not appropriate to make such strongly worded attacks on the makeup of a government or to focus solely on the issue of Israeli settlements.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not believe that it is appropriate to attack the composition of the democratically elected government of an ally,\u201d he said. \u201cThe government believes that negotiations will only succeed when they are conducted between the two parties, supported by the international community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UK backed the UN resolution passed last week that condemned the continued expansion of settlements. But May\u2019s spokesman said she was concerned about the language Kerry had used.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to believe that the construction of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is illegal, which is why we supported UN security council resolution 2334 last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we are also clear that the settlements are far from the only problem in this conflict. In particular, the people of Israel deserve to live free from the threat of terrorism, with which they have had to cope for too long.\u201d<\/p>\n
However the US state department last night reacted with some bluntness to May\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said: \u201cWe are surprised by the UK Prime Minister\u2019s office statement given that Secretary Kerry\u2019s remarks\u2014which covered the full range of threats to a two state solution, including terrorism, violence, incitement and settlements\u2014were in-line with the UK\u2019s own longstanding policy and its vote at the United Nations last week.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement also said: \u201cWe are grateful for the strongly supportive statements in response to Secretary Kerry\u2019s speech from across the world, including Germany, France, Canada, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barack Obama, who will hand over to Donald Trump in January, has taken a series of steps in his final days in the White House to secure a foreign policy legacy, including backing the UN resolution which the White House hopes could give legal grounds for future action by other governments. Kerry made resolving the deadlocked Israeli-Palestine conflict a central aim of his tenure as secretary of state, but has made little progress.<\/p>\n
Trump, who made stridently pro-Israel comments during the election campaign, responded angrily to the resolution, claiming: \u201cThe big loss for Israel in the United Nations will make it much harder to negotiate peace. Too bad, but we will get it done anyway!\u201d Israel reacted furiously to Kerry\u2019s comments, with Netanyahu calling them \u201cskewed\u201d.<\/p>\n
May is known to be keen to kindle a close relationship with the Trump White House. The UK\u2019s ambassador, Sir Kim Darroch, has even said he hopes it will emulate the rapport between Margaret Thatcher and her US counterpart Ronald Reagan.<\/p>\n
BY Heather Stewart<\/p>\n
theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"