Snow in Mideast Snarls Kerry’s Shuttle Diplomacy
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Version 0 of 1. JERUSALEM — Along with the travails of trying to make peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, Secretary of State John Kerry had a new problem on Friday: a major Middle Eastern snowstorm. The storm, which began early Thursday and has affected much of the region, brought the heaviest December snowfall to the Jerusalem area since the 1950s, according to the authorities. Speaking to reporters here on Friday morning before a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Mr. Kerry said it had taken him “I don’t know how many hours” to make what is usually a 20-minute journey back from the West Bank city of Ramallah the night before. There, he met with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, but the session was cut short because of the deteriorating road conditions. Thanking the Israeli police and the Palestinians for their efforts, he said, “The roads were very tough, and we were very fortunate to be able to get back.” Mr. Kerry came to continue difficult talks that he started last week with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders on American security proposals that would form part of the basis for a permanent peace deal. Security, he said later in Tel Aviv before departing for Asia, is “a key issue,” particularly because of what he called the threat of terrorism against Israel. Mr. Kerry prodded the sides back to negotiating in July, after years of stagnation. Nine months was allotted for the process. Officials say that Mr. Kerry’s team, which is participating in the talks, may present a framework of principles in the next few weeks. While few details have emerged from the talks, they have recently focused on the question of control over the Jordan Valley, the area of the West Bank bordering Jordan. Mr. Kerry was accompanied by John R. Allen, a retired Marine general who has presented the American security proposals to both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Israel insists on maintaining a long-term military presence in the Jordan Valley, saying that it cannot rely on foreign forces to prevent the smuggling of advanced weapons that could be used against Israel. A Palestinian official involved in the talks said the Americans had “adopted the Israeli security doctrine” and were proposing an Israeli military presence in the West Bank for 10 years, an idea the Palestinian official said was “unacceptable.” The experience of Gaza has hardened Israelis. Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Palestinian coastal territory in 2005. Hamas, the Islamic militant group, won Palestinian elections in 2006 and seized full control of Gaza a year later after internal fighting there. Gaza then became armed with advanced weapons that were smuggled through tunnels at the Egyptian border, including long-range rockets capable of hitting Tel Aviv. Mr. Kerry described the latest talks in Ramallah as constructive and “always complicated.” He thanked Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Abbas for “the serious way in which they are pursuing these discussions.” Because of the storm, tens of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians were without electricity on Friday. Main highways leading in and out of Jerusalem were closed for hours. The Israeli military helped the police rescue stranded drivers, transferring them to a conference center and a military base for shelter. Flights at the international airport near Tel Aviv were disrupted. In Gaza, snow fell for the first time in nearly two decades. The plummeting temperatures came as Gaza was suffering from an acute electricity shortage after the enclave’s sole power plant shut down last month for lack of affordable fuel. Hundreds of houses were flooded with rainwater, but also with sewage because pumping and treatment stations have been mostly idle. The Hamas authorities opened up 10 government schools to shelter the displaced families. The severe weather also prompted some additional cooperation. Israeli military officials said that after a request by United Nations officials, a crossing on the Israel-Gaza border was opened on Friday morning to allow tanks of heating gas for warming houses to be transferred into Gaza. <NYT_AUTHOR_ID> <p>Fares Akram contributed reporting from Gaza. |