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UP FRONTThursday 22 October 2015
Kerry seeks Mideast answers amid deteriorating conditions
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry participates in a forum at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer
Center for Science and International Affairs,Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, in Cambridge, Mass.
MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Obama administration is
confronted with two crises
for which it has few, if any,
viable options — the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict and the
Syrian civil war. The admin-
istration has ultimate goals
for each crisis but no clear
path to achieve them and
Secretary of State John
Kerry is jetting off to Europe est round of high-stakes
and the Middle East to seek
answers.
Iran’s supreme leader endorses landmark nuclear deal
ALI DAREINI
Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) —
Iran’s supreme leader on
Wednesday endorsed a
landmark nuclear deal
reached with world pow-
ers, but warned the gov-
ernment to be vigilant, say-
ing the United States can-
not be trusted.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
who has the final say on all
state matters, endorsed the
deal in a letter to moderate
President Hassan Rouhani
that was read on state TV.
Until now he had declined
to publicly approve or re-
ject the deal while express-
ing support for Iran’s ne-
gotiators.The agreement
reached in July with the
U.S., Britain, France, China,
Russia and Germany would
curb Iran’s nuclear activi-
ties in exchange for the lift- tears.q
With only a broad outline
of the desired results, Kerry
will be listening as much as
talking as he navigates at-
tempts to restore relative
calm in Israel and the Pal-
estinian territories amid vio-
lence and spiraling tensions
and revive efforts for a po-
litical transition in Syria that meet Palestinian President
could end the increasingly
complex war.
Kerry embarks on his lat-
diplomacy on Wednesday
when he leaves for Berlin,
ing of crippling internation-
al sanctions.
Western nations have long
suspected Iran of pursuing
nuclear weapons along-
side its civilian program,
charges rejected by Teh-
ran, which insists its pro-
gram is entirely peaceful.
The agreement has been
the subject of fierce debate
within Iran, with hard-liners
arguing that the nego-
tiators gave up too much
ground. They also fear the
agreement could lead to
a broader rapprochement
with the United States,
which they still deride as
the “Great Satan.”
Iran’s parliament approved
the deal in two stormy ses-
sions that saw lawmak-
ers shout at one another
and at least one hard-line
parliamentarian burst into
tions in both hotspots took
unexpected and poten-
tially dangerous turns late
(AP Photo/Steven Senne) Tuesday and Wednesday.
Netanyahu blamed a for-
where he will meet Israeli mer Palestinian leader for
Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- inspiring Hitler’s Holocaust.
tanyahu on Thursday, and Those comments, coupled
then Vienna, where he will with new Palestinian stab-
see the foreign ministers bing attacks on Israelis,
of Russia, Turkey and Sau- threaten to further inflame
di Arabia about Syria on the combustible atmo-
Friday. He then plans to sphere. And Russian Presi-
visit Amman, where he will dent Vladimir Putin hosted
Syrian President Bashar
Mahmoud Abbas and Jor- Assad in Moscow, suggest-
dan’s King Abdullah. A stop ing that Putin’s support for
in Saudi Arabia is also envi- Assad’s government will
sioned. not wane. Although State
Complicating his already Department spokesman
delicate tasks, the situa- John Kirby wouldn’t criticize
Netanyahu for incitement,
he said of the Holocaust
comments: “The scholarly
evidence does not sup-
port that position.” He took
a similar constrained ap-
proach on Assad’s trip to
Russia, saying it was not sur- visit but not to pray. They
prising given the two coun-
tries’ expanding military re-
lationship.
U.S. officials have yet to
detail any American plan
to end the Israeli-Palestin-
ian unrest that erupted a
month ago over Jerusa-
lem’s most sensitive holy
site. During that time, 10
Israelis have been killed by
Palestinian assailants, most-
ly in knife attacks, while 47
Palestinians — including 26
In this picture released by the official website of the office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatol-
lah Ali Khamenei speaks in Tehran, Iran. Khamenei on Wednesday endorsed a landmark nuclear
deal reached with world powers, but warned the government to be vigilant,
(Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
labeled by Israel as attack-
ers — have been killed by
Israeli fire. The remainder
died in clashes between Is-
raeli forces and Palestinian
protesters. In addition, an
Israeli mob killed an Eritrean
migrant after mistaking him
for an Arab attacker.
The site in question is known
to Jews as the Temple
Mount, the holiest site in
Judaism and home to the
biblical Temples. For Mus-
lims, it is the Noble Sanctu-
ary, home to the Al-Aqsa
Mosque, the third-holiest
site in Islam and a key na-
tional symbol for the Pales-
tinians. The site, captured
by Israel from Jordan in
the 1967 Mideast war, is
a frequent flashpoint of
violence. The Palestinians
accuse Israel of trying to
change the longstand-
ing “status quo” at the
site, which allows Jews to
point to a growing num-
ber of Jewish visitors who
seek an expanded Jew-
ish presence and prayer
rights at the site. Netanya-
hu says there are no plans
to change the status quo,
and that the Palestinian al-
legations are slanderous in-
citement. He says the hos-
tile rhetoric, and incendiary
videos making the rounds
on social media, are fuel-
ing the violence. q