Obama Coming Just to Listen

U.S. President Barack Obama will not bring a peace plan to Israel next month, but rather intends to listen, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday.

Obama’s plan to visit has raised speculation of a new U.S. push to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, stalled since 2010.

But Kerry, speaking to German students during his first foreign trip as Washington’s top diplomat, played down expectations.

“We’re not going to go and sort of plunk a plan down and tell everybody what they have to do,” Kerry said. “I want to consult and the president wants to listen.”

Kerry said that after Obama’s trip, which also includes a stop in Jordan, the U.S. would see how it might pursue peace.

Referring to ongoing disturbances in Yehudah and Shomron, Kerry said, “We really hope everybody will step back a little and try to find a way to proceed very calmly and very thoughtfully in these next days (and) leave the opportunities for peaceful resolution open.”

This article appeared in print on page D37 of the February 27th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.