WASHINGTON —In a stern parting shot, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Israel on Wednesday that building settlements on Palestinian land threatens the country’s very future as a democracy.

Kerry accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of allowing Israel to slide towards a “perpetual occupation”. With President-elect Donald Trump taking office on January 20, and already urging Israel to “stand strong” in the face of international pressure, it was not clear what impact Kerry hopes to have on the peace process. 

But his comprehensive and at times angry speech laid down parameters for a peace deal — two states within their pre-1967 frontiers and with a shared capital in Jerusalem — that he hopes will outlast President Barack Obama.

Washington officials have refused to say what they might do next, but Israel fears the administration could attempt to codify these principles in a UN resolution or statement by the Middle East diplomatic Quartet.

Either way, they will certainly reject Kerry’s rebuke.

Netanyahu immediately denounced the speech as “skewed against Israel” and, according to an Israeli NGO, the occupation in Jerusalem authorised a new four-storey block of settler units just ahead of it. He was also due to make a statement at his office in response to Kerry.

Between the river and the sea 

Kerry’s speech did not depart from US policy of many years, nor from his warnings in recent months, but critical and supportive observers alike noted his detailed breakdown of the problem as he sees it. 

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