As Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to give a speech Wednesday night laying out his "comprehensive vision" for Israeli-Palestinian peace, the Israeli Hebrew-language newspaper Yisrael Hayom played up accusations by the Netanyahu government that the Obama administration played a key role, with the cooperation of the Palestinians, in drafting the U.N. Security Council resolution condemning settlements as illegal.
Yisrael Hayom's front page has a photo of Kerry and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. An article inside the paper details a report in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Yaum a-Sabah about a secret meeting that it said took place that included Kerry, Abbas and National Security Adviser Susan Rice to formulate the wording of the U.N. resolution in order to help it pass by avoiding an American veto.
This was the first anti-Israel resolution in the Security Council that the Obama administration did not veto during its eight years in the White House.
Yisrael Hayom is owned by American casino magnate Sheldon Anderson, who is a supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and was also the largest donor to Donald Trump's campaign.
The Times of Israel reported that White House national security council spokesman Ned Price denied that such a meeting took place and that the Egyptian report was a "total fabrication."
State Department spokesman John Kirby also said that such a meeting did not occur.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, however, confirmed that the meeting did indeed take place in Washington, although he described the details in the Egyptian report as "lies and half-truths."
One of the details Yisrael Hayom cited from the Egyptian newspaper's report was that after coordinating the resolution, Kerry said, "Netanyahu will try to alter the status quo, and I would like to present a plan for a permanent status agreement so long as it receives the blessing of the Palestinians."
Rice, however, reportedly disagreed with this approach, saying there was no point in articulating new ideas, because the Trump administration would just toss them aside.
The American also reportedly advised the Palestinians how to deal with the Trump administration.
In the aftermath of the Security Council vote, Israel officials are afraid that the Obama administration, in its waning days, will try to pass more resolutions in the U.N. or take other measures that the Netanyahu government fear will make it even more difficult to achieve.
Following the U.S. announcement that Kerry would indeed give a speech on Mideast peace, Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said "It's pathetic to present a plan at the last minute when he hasn't managed to change anything for his entire time in office," The Jerusalem Post reported.
Erdan added that "It's unfortunate that the Obama administration, that erred for years in the Middle East, is trying to make sure that the chaos will last far past its tenure.
Kerry's speech on parameters right before the end of his tenure will ensure that the Palestinians won't agree to any sort of negotiations [with Israel] in the coming years and will push off chances of advancing peace."
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