America's Blame Game

Israeli Official Slams Indyk's 'Hypocrisy'

A senior Israeli official has accused U.S. mediator Martin Indyk of “hypocrisy” in the wake of his comments blaming Israeli “settlement activity” for causing peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) to fail.
The official, who spoke to Reuters on Friday, said Indyk had known construction in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem would continue during the discussions...

Indyk, who spoke Thursday at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, insisted that both sides were guilty of bad faith and "not serious" about peace.
However, he also lay harsh blame on Israel's "settlements" for the failure of peace talks, claiming they had torpedoed negotiations on purpose.
“I can tell you first hand that that [announcing more building] had a very damaging effect, and by the way it was intended to have that damaging effect,” he said. “The promoters of the settlement activity are the ones who were adamantly opposed to the negotiations even though they were in a government that was committed to the negotiations.”
“Rampant settlement activity – especially in the midst of negotiations – doesn’t just undermine Palestinian trust in the purpose of the negotiations; it can undermine Israel’s Jewish future,” Indyk charged . “If this continues, it could mortally wound the idea of Israel as a Jewish state – and that would be a tragedy of historic proportions.”-more