The Kerry talks were a nine-month round of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization launched by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in late July 2013 and collapsing in late April 2014. They were the first sustained bilateral talks since the 2010 Washington round broke down over Israeli settlement construction.
Kerry shuttled to the region roughly a dozen times during 2013, persuading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the table. The agreed framework set a nine-month timeline to reach a comprehensive final-status agreement covering borders, security, refugees, Jerusalem, mutual recognition, and an end-of-conflict clause. As an inducement, Israel agreed to release Palestinian prisoners held since before the 1993 Oslo Accords in four tranches, while the Palestinians agreed to suspend bids to join international bodies during the talks.
Lead negotiators were Tzipi Livni for Israel and Saeb Erekat for the Palestinians, with U.S. envoy Martin Indyk coordinating. In early 2014 Kerry circulated a draft "framework" document intended to extend the talks, reportedly including U.S. recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, land swaps along the 1967 lines, and a phased Israeli withdrawal from the Jordan Valley.
The process unraveled in late March and April 2014 when Israel declined to release the fourth tranche of prisoners, Israel announced new settlement tenders, and the PLO submitted applications to join 15 international conventions. A subsequent reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas prompted Israel to formally suspend talks on 24 April 2014.
The collapse was followed within months by the 2014 Gaza war ("Operation Protective Edge"). Indyk, in a May 2014 speech at the Washington Institute, blamed both sides, particularly continued Israeli settlement activity. The Kerry round is widely viewed as the last serious bilateral final-status negotiation to date, and its failure shaped subsequent U.S. shifts away from the bilateral framework, culminating in the 2020 Trump "Peace to Prosperity" plan.
Example
In April 2014, the Kerry talks broke down after Israel withheld a scheduled prisoner release and the Palestinian Authority signed accession papers to 15 international treaties.
Frequently asked questions
Direct causes included Israel's refusal to release a fourth tranche of pre-Oslo Palestinian prisoners, new settlement tenders, the PLO's application to join 15 international conventions, and a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal that prompted Israel to suspend negotiations on 24 April 2014.
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