Angry reaction in Israel over Kerry ‘boycott’ remarks

Israeli leaders have reacted angrily to comments from US secretary of state John Kerry warning that Israel might suffer boycotts and further delegitimisation if the current peace talks with the Palestinians fail.

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that attempts to impose a boycott on Israel are "immoral and unjust" and will not succeed.

“First of all, they will cause Palestinian officials to further adhere to their intransigent positions and thus push peace further away. Secondly, no pressure will cause me to concede the vital interests of the state of Israel, especially the security of Israel’s citizens. Because of these two reasons, threats to boycott Israel will not achieve their goal.”

Mr Kerry, who is expected to present a US framework peace agreement to Israel and the Palestinians in the coming weeks, told the Munich security conference over the weekend that the quiet and prosperity in Israel was temporary and the status quo couldn’t last.

International boycotts
He warned that failure to reach a peace agreement would make it difficult for Israel to remain a democratic and Jewish state and could lead to more international boycotts.

Intelligence minister Yuval Steinitz called Mr Kerry's remarks "offensive, unfair and intolerable", and said that Israel could not be expected to negotiate with a gun to its head.

A statement issued by the state department stressed that Mr Kerry was opposed to a boycott of Israel, and called for all parties to “accurately portray his record and statements”.

Coming to Mr Kerry's defence was minister Tzipi Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, who rejected claims by right-wing ministers that he was threatening Israel.

“Some of those who speak harshly against the US secretary of state would lower their eyes in embarrassment if they knew what Kerry has done to prevent these threats and these boycotts,” she said.

Remaining troops
Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas stated that Israeli troops can remain in the territory of a future Palestinian state for five years, not three, as he had previously said.

In a New York Times interview, he also proposed that an American-led Nato force could provide security for a future Palestinian state indefinitely, saying a Palestinian state had no need for an army of its own. Nato troops, he said, could be positioned throughout the new state, at all crossings, and within Jerusalem.