It has been some time since US Secretary of State John Kerry talked about the two-state solution, illegal Israeli settlements and “tensions” — that should read daily Israeli provocations — at Al Aqsa Mosque compound.

This week he met with His Majesty King Abdullah and later held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The King urged the international community to end the stalemate in the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians until reaching progress, according to the two-state solution and relevant international legitimacy resolutions, it was reported.

Kerry and Abbas reportedly discussed a number of issues, including the recent French call to hold an international peace conference, which Israel flatly rejected, Israeli settlement activities and the two-state solution.

While Kerry reiterated the US administration’s commitment to the two-state solution and its position on Israeli settlements, what it all boiled down to was his urging for “calm and a decrease in violence, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric” between Israelis and Palestinians.

According to Palestinian sources, Kerry’s sudden interest in the Palestinian-Israeli issue was triggered by the rapid deterioration of relations between the Netanyahu government and the Palestinian National Authority.

Moreover, Kerry appeared to be intervening on behalf of Israel in order to end the five-month uprising in the West Bank, which claimed more than 170 Palestinian lives, mostly young men and women, and left 28 Israelis dead.

Kerry had nothing else to offer the Palestinian leadership. The Obama administration withdrew from engaging the two sides while rejecting any role for other parties to step in and revive the stalled peace process.

Washington’s position today is a far cry from the promises President Barack Obama made in the early days of his presidency.

Now the lame-duck president is being attacked for major flaws in his strategy in both Iraq and Syria.

In the face of an increasingly intransigent and aggressive Israeli government, Abbas has no room to manoeuvre. He threatened to go to the Security Council to pass a new resolution on Israel’s illegal settlement expansion.

Washington will do its best to make sure he does not.

Apart from the French initiative, there is little Arab or international interest in finding ways to revive the peace talks and salvage the two-state solution.

Meanwhile, Israel is bent on carrying out the most ambitious scheme yet of dissecting Palestinian lands, implementing a demographic transfer of East Jerusalemites, provoking religious tensions at Al Aqsa Mosque and undermining Abbas’ credibility and that of his ailing Palestinian Authority.

Kerry knows all this, but can only offer lip-service about commitment to the two-state solution without risking a face-off with Netanyahu and his rightwing government.

Israel’s extrajudicial killing of Palestinians was not even mentioned by Kerry.

The Palestinian leadership must realise by now that waiting for Americans to confront Israel and pressure it to honour previous agreements will not happen.

Obama backed down when he was challenged by Netanyahu, setting a dangerous precedent. No future US president will dare apply pressure on Israel from now on.

Israel has no vision of what the future will look like, either. As the two-state solution option flounders, the government is refusing to consider other options that one day may become inevitable.

It continues to dither while a new reality is being created on the ground.

It is safe to say that we have crossed the point of no return for a peaceful settlement between Israelis and Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian leadership continues to prove to its people that it is now politically and economically bankrupt.

Its bet on a negotiated settlement has failed. A new generation of Palestinians is now raising the ante by challenging the occupation with knives and stones out of desperation and anger.

Abbas also failed to close the rift with Hamas and to produce a national unity government. The reality now is that Gaza Strip has become an entity by itself, disconnected from the core of the Palestinian issue.

Israel is banking on Palestinian divisions and will push to create more rifts among the Palestinian people.

There is no doubt that Netanyahu’s intransigence and greed have been inflated and enhanced by the exploding conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

The emergence of Daesh as the region’s most immediate threat to stability overshadowed the Palestinian issue and shifted attention from Israel’s illegal occupation and its daily crimes.

Kerry’s sudden interest in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be short lived. The Syrian crisis will keep him busy until the last days of the Obama presidency.

For the Palestinians, 2016 will bring no hope of a peaceful end to decades of Israeli occupation.

Meanwhile, Palestinian anger and frustration will continue to simmer and Israel’s free hand in meting out punishment will not stop.

The writer is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman.