Down Memory Lane to 2014's Iran Nuclear Talks and Our Future

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                     

    Iran shows the world it's rockets, a threat against Israel.  

Of primary concern to the USA and Israel was Iran's domestic-enrichment program, completely superfluous to Iran's apparent civilian nuclear power intentions when the energy resource can be imported.  Iran is a hot country, needing little energy during winter months.  right now in April they are enjoying 80 degree F weather. In northern and western regions of Iran winter starts with wet snow and averages at 1 to 8 °C (34-46 °F). Southern coasts are usually warmer. Local temperature is 10 to 14 °C (50-57 °F) at daytime while in mountainous regions even daytime temperature are in negative range (below 32 °F). They could easily import oil for energy.  Why the need for nuclear power?                                      

  Iran's Revolutionary Guard Troops

Iran was the 6th largest Islamic country. with about 76,923,300 population  in 2011.  They were 98% Muslims of the Shi'a sect, and is an Islamic state with a military power of about 545,000 then  Saudi Arabia is the religious leader with the main sect being Sunni. It's the 14th largest population of Muslims, Shi'as being a minority religious group among Muslims.  

    Iran's hatred for USA, the Big Satan, while Israel is called the little Satan.

The size of their program- 20,000 centrifuges to spin uranium in multiple, heavily fortified, once clandestine  sites across the country, well beyond the grade required for any peaceful purpose.  They were establishing a 2nd path in nuclear weapons capacity by building a plutonium heavy water facility.

That, along with all the threats of hatred that Iran was bellowing out against Israel, had Israel's shackles up to the point where they knew what Iran was intending.  They were going to be the Islamic rulers, taking Saudi Arabia's place of leadership by ridding them all of Israel. They would drive Israel and its people into the sea. Israel knew enough to take Iran's threats seriously, as this is part of the Islamic code of warning an enemy first before striking.  Ever since the Shah of Iran had been ousted by the Ayatolah, they had hated the tiny Jewish country who was once a Dhimmi group along with the Christians (2nd-3rd class citizen) of Muslim countries.  Jews were under more duress than the Christians, however.

Wendy Sherman b: June 7, 1949, served under Hillary Clinton and John Kerry as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2011 to 2015. She was the fourth-ranking official in the U.S. Department of State. In that role, Sherman was the lead negotiator for the Iran nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, in the USA, Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, Jewish, a Democrat and political appointee, was the representative of the USA in a historical bilateral negotiation with Iran, the 1st of its kind in 35 years.  It was held in Austria, and in the Coburg Palace in the capital;  journalists from around the world gathered, and then were commanded to retreat by security forces.  At the negotiating table, one delegation had asked that the local police keep all this press outside, behind barricades, and never gave a reason why. Iran and its nuclear facilities is not her area of expertise, and is not an expert on sanctions financing nor nuclear science but considered capable as a negotiator.    She has said she does not expect to know Iran's true position until the 13th hour of the talks.   

The Baroness, Catherine Ashton, b: March 20, 1956, a busy woman, noted for  her P5+1 talks with Iran which led to the November 2013 Geneva interim agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme. She is  a British Labour politician who served as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and First Vice President of the European Commission in the Barroso Commission from 2009 to 2014.

The US delegation was not flustered but took it well, as many went into a hotel bar.  One sharp reporter said she thought the order came from Catherine Ashton, the EU representative and foreign-policy chief, who was very stingy about giving out news from the conferences.  Her staff had declared, "What's the point?"  

It had been 8 months previously in Geneva, Switzerland after weeks of hushed talks that the USA, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany agreed with Iran to pause the talks for 6 months.  Sanctions were frozen and Iran promised to cap its enrichment of uranium. Naive journalists and reps thought Iran actually would diminish their stockpile of its most highly enriched uranium to date.  

This deal was called The Joint Plan of Action, and they had 6 months to deal with Iran's goal.  Some even actually suspected a military reasoning behind the uranium need.  The talks were extended 4 more months. so John Kerry, Secretary of State,  could get to Vienna to "gauge Iran's seriousness."  

For over the past 10 years, people had known where Iran stood.  They already had gone way beyond the grade standards for peaceful use.  They had been making a 2nd path to nuclear weapons capacity by building a plutonium heavy-water facility.  

The world powers at the table were there with the goal of dismantling much of the infrastructure.  There were inspectors to enforce this position.  

Journalists were kept from seeing what covert operations were being addressed.  Independent experts knew far more than the rest of the world, or what Western intelligence agencies had learned, or what Mossad had discovered.  

Netanyhu was made aware, and told the world in a UN conference, his speech ignored by USA heads walking out during his speech to go to lunch.  It's been 8-10 years since then.  This was in September 2012.  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew his “red line” for Iran’s nuclear program on Thursday despite a U.S. refusal to set an ultimatum, saying Tehran will be on the brink of a nuclear weapon in less than a year.  To stall Israel's program, it is thought that Israel managed to get to their computer program and jam it up, stalling their progress.  

Israel has said that they will not allow Iran to attack them with their nuclear powerful weapons. Whatever it takes to protect its citizens, they are ready to do.   

July 14, 2015:  Earlier today in Vienna, international negotiators reached a deal with Iran over its nuclear program. The New York Times reports that the agreement will eventually lift oil and financial sanctions, “in return for limits on Iran’s nuclear production capability and fuel stockpile over the next 15 years.” The international restrictions on Iranian arms exports will remain in place for up to 5 years, and the ban on ballistic missile exports could remain for up to 8 years. 

In a televised statement this morning, President Obama defended his decision to engage in the negotiations “from a position of strength” and assured the American people that, under the deal, “Iran will not be able to achieve a nuclear weapon.” His opponents are sure to challenge both assertions. 

In July 2015, the Iran nuclear deal was reached by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China, the European Union (EU), and Iran. The deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was supposed to resolve concerns about Iran’s nuclear program—but it did not.

Trump (2017-2021) quit a deal between the US, its European allies, and Iran and said he's going to hit Iran with the toughest economic sanctions he can.  There are lots of different theories about what could happen next. Some people think the US siding with Israel, and Saudi Arabia, over Iran could lead to war in the Middle East. Others think that Iran will now start making weapons again.  According to the Guardian, the deal led to a rapid reduction in Iran’s nuclear programme. It reduced its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98% to just 300lbs, not enough to make one bomb. But Trump's said the deal's failed, that it hasn't led to peace and that he is going to come down hard on Iran.

Although the other European countries involved are pretty desperate to keep the deal (politicians from France, Germany and the UK have all been in the US in the past few weeks to try and persuade Trump to stick to it) they're now going to have to fight pretty hard to keep it standing. One analyst said that with economic sanctions imposed from the US, global companies could leave Iran, further damaging its industry.

• By 2031, 9 years from today (or sooner, in some cases)—Iran will be permitted to:
  • produce highly-enriched uranium;
  • stockpile unlimited amounts of uranium;
  • use advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium more quickly;
  • conduct unlimited research and development on uranium-enrichment centrifuges;
  • build and operate facilities to enrich uranium without restrictions;
  • enrich uranium, without restrictions, at its underground, hardened, previously secret Fordow nuclear facility;
  • reprocess spent fuel—which can be used for nuclear weapons—from heavy-water nuclear reactors; and
  • build new heavy-water reactors, which would annually produce enough plutonium to fuel several nuclear weapons.
• The international community is therefore only ‘renting’ Iranian arms control for a time, after which Iran will have a virtually unrestricted, internationally validated, industrial-scale nuclear program. By giving political approval to that program, the JCPOA therefore makes military action the only option left to prevent a nuclear Iran.

What's happening to today's talks?    Iran will not go back to the original deal that Trump broke away from which was a bad deal anyway, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican: 

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian part of International Conference on Syria, a political solution in 29 th May 2013.  

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Minister stressed the need for the US to abandon its excessive demands in the talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, saying the current US administration should have the courage to correct its predecessor’s mistakes.  “The United States’ current administration should have the audacity to rectify the White House’s past mistakes,” Hossein Amirabdollahian told European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrel during a phone call on Friday.

                                   

 Iran's Hossein has strong ties with China and Russia as well as Syria.

(New York, N.Y.) – Speaking to reporters at the Munich Security Conference earlier this year, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters, as Patrick Wintour of The Guardian recalled on “The Iran Podcast”, that if Iran were to agree to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) then Tehran would need a legal guarantee that any business agreements with an Iranian company formed after implementation of the deal would be, as Wintour said, ‘sacrosanct’ and shielded from sanctions.

Such a demand, if made at the Vienna nuclear negotiations, would align with a provision in Tehran’s so-called ‘Revenge Act’ of 2021. That bill not only requires punitive financial penalties on companies that comply with sanctions requirements set forth by the United States and other governments, but also creates a criminal penalty for doing so, specifying a mandatory prison sentence. Article 10 of that legislation explicitly states (emphasis added): 

Companies that violate their contract due to sanctions against Iran, if they wish to return to cooperate in a new contract with an Iranian entity again are required to comply with the following conditions: The termination payment agreed by the foreign party in the new contract must be set at least twice as high as in comparable contracts. The foreign party in the contract must bear all the cost of the equipment and production lines until the final product is reached. The foreign party will be subject to twice the amount of taxes as would be the case in comparable contracts. If the foreign party has submitted a tender that is equal to other competitors, the tender of the foreign entity will be treated with a lower priority. In case of violation of any of these conditions in the agreement, the offender will be sentenced to a sentence between 1 to 5 years in prison. 

An international Atomic Energy Agency inspector visits the Natanz enrichment facility, south of Tehran, on Jan. 20, 2014.KAZEM GHANE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGESinspector

Despite U.S. Sanctions, Iran Expands Its Nuclear Stockpile, two years after Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, Tehran has cut in half the time it would need to produce enough weapons-grade fuel for a nuclear bomb.

Resource: The Jerusalem Report, August 25, 2014,p. 34-37

https://seasonsyear.com/Iran#:~:text=Winter%20in%20Iran,(below%2032%20%C2%B0F).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Sherman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Ashton

https://www.cato.org/blog/pros-cons-iranian-nuclear-deal?gclid=CjwKCAjwx46TBhBhEiwArA_DjL9ro92I4UpnAoegRJm3I6kJZps1I8ZqJveRQlH6zKMDM8-lLSNkcxoCrpgQAvD_BwE

https://www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com/iran-nuclear-deal?gclid=CjwKCAjwx46TBhBhEiwArA_DjOkjWWwXvikLYPVJyj1_GO4UaO6ZmqfTJgc4TAZFsJriObyva50yWRoCPW4QAvD_BwE

https://www.ecnmy.org/engage/donald-trump-just-backed-iran-nuclear-deal/?gclid=CjwKCAjwx46TBhBhEiwArA_DjAKijw1eCY112An0OkgXRjMdV6u8C-EkUV40qv8bYdQqiTB_uhQVqxoCLToQAvD_BwE

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/08/iran-advances-nuclear-program-withdrawal-jcpoa/

Kerry Giving Information to Iran About Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                          

A big shock came from one of  New York's most unbending Democratic-siding newspapers .  On Sunday, the New York Times committed a turn about act of journalism in not supporting their favorite team. Former Secretary of State John Kerry informed Iran's Zarif that Israel had attacked Iranian interests in Syria at least 200 times, to his astonishment, Mr. Zarif said, wrote the New York Times. 

The New York Times reported on an obvious violation of the Espionage Act by the   former Secretary of State, former Democrat presidential candidate,    former senator  John Forbes Kerry , born December 11, 1943  in Aurora, Colorado, USA ,                                      

The Espionage Act of 1917  was, “An act to punish acts of interference with the foreign relations, the neutrality and the foreign commerce of the United States, to punish espionage, and better to enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for other purposes.” It was intended to prohibit interference with military operations or recruitment, to prevent insubordination in the military and to prevent the support of United States enemies during wartime.  What Kerry did was blab information like a gossiper.  What role is he in now? Did he do this on purpose?   

Syria and Lebanon are proxies of Iran used  by the Iranians in attacking Israel.   

Mohammad Javad Zarif is an Iranian career diplomat and academic. He has been foreign minister of Iran since 2013.

'At best, this shows that Kerry is enormously and irresponsibly indiscreet; at worst, he’s exposing American intelligence to an enemy in order to attack an ally.' Tammy Bruce, host of Get Tammy Bruce on Fox Nation. in a twitter and David Ruiz is a senior editor  at Fox News. 

During the Trump Administration, which was only 100 days ago,  Kerry informed the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, that Israel had been attacking Iranian “interests” — military targets — in Syria throughout the Trump Administration.Therefore this happened during the Trump administration.  Was it already in the public domain?

                                                                

John Kerry has a personal connection to Javad Zarif.  I've written about this before.  

"One of John Kerry's daughters,  Dr. Vanessa Bradford Kerry,  married several years ago  to Dr. Brian (Behrooz) Vala Nahid /(Dr. Behrouz Brian Vala Nahed) , an Iranian-American physician,  son of Nooshin P and Dr. Reza Vala Nahid, .  Part of the wedding preparations included Kerry attending a dinner party given by George Soros, billionaire,  at his Manhattan penthouse. 

 He also met the best man, Mahdi Zarif and his father, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is today's Iranian Foreign Minister.  Zarif was the chief negotiator during the nuclear talks. 

 "Dr. Kerry and Dr. Nahed, both 32, are residents at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where they married in her church. She is in her third year of a residency in internal medicine; he is in his fifth year of a residency in neurological surgery."  Dr.Brian, Nahid's father, is a pulmonologist and sleep medicine and critical-care physician, and is the chief of staff at Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills, Calif. He also runs a private practice there, which is managed by the bridegroom’s mother.

The information is highly critical of US-Iran relations, including the Iran nuclear deal that Zarif dictated to a hapless John Kerry. A recording of this oral history was leaked to a Persian-language outlet, Iran International, and shared with the New York Times.  Iran International is a Saudi and UK-backed, British-based Persian television station headquartered in London. It is aimed at Iranian viewers and broadcasts free-to-air by satellite. 

There is every reason to think the reason to believe the recording is legit. The Iranian foreign ministry has not disputed the authenticity. The opinions Zarif express are too unorthodox, to unusual to be anything other than frank and honest, and Zarif’s own account of Iranian foreign policy is not flattering to him. It makes him look deceitful  and unimportant and should leave any diplomat wondering why they should even deal with him when he admits that the the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), not the foreign minister, sets foreign policy.  

I thought for sure it was the Ayatollas.  I'm right.  "According to Iran's Constitution, the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah) is responsible for the delineation and supervision of "the general policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran," which means that he sets the tone and direction of Iran's domestic and foreign policies. The Supreme Leader also is commander-in-chief of the armed forces and controls the Islamic Republic's intelligence and security operations; he alone can declare war or peace. He has the power to appoint and dismiss the leaders of the judiciary, the state radio and television networks, and the supreme commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He also appoints six of the twelve members of the Council of Guardians, the powerful body that oversees the activities of Parliament and determines which candidates are qualified to run for public office.

What this says is that Kerry gave out classified information which is a forbidden act.  Is it true?  If not, why do it?  Who did it?  Why did the New York Times take such a chance in doing this?  Both Kerry and the State Department spokesman Ned Price have denied it.  

Kerry said something like, I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false.  This never happened;  either when I was Secretary of State or since.  Is he known to tell the truth always, like George Washington? 

 His immediate family members were reportedly observant Roman Catholics. As a child, Kerry served as an altar boy. Although the extended family enjoyed a great fortune, Kerry's parents themselves were upper-middle class; a wealthy great aunt paid for Kerry to attend elite schools in Europe and New England. Kerry spent his summers at the Forbes family estate in Brittany, and there, he enjoyed a more opulent lifestyle than he had previously known in Massachusetts. While living in the U.S., Kerry spent several summers at the Forbes family's estates on Naushon Island off Cape Cod. That's quite a background.  

John Kerry has not been a bosom buddy of Israel.  Critics say he is not only a critic but an adversary of Israel.  He hasn't been a supporter.  He would say something like this if he thought the person he was talking to was in agreement with him and was his bosom buddy, and he thought this family connection  of Zarif being the father of the best man at his daughter's wedding made that so. Perhaps that in this real world, it does not make Kerry Zarif's bosom buddy.  Welcome to the Iranian East, Kerry.  And Jews and the Shah were in good relations when the Shah was in, too.  

It is said that Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo,  blasted Kerry  for “actively undermining” U.S. policy on Iran, and, in a tweet, President Donald Trump accused Kerry of holding “illegal meetings” with Iranian officials.  Pompeo said he would leave “legal determinations to others,” but said there was “no precedent for this in U.S. history.”

U.S. officials said that Iran and its proxies (Syria) were preparing an attack on U.S. forces in Iraq, sending an aircraft carrier strike group to the region and deploying Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to Baghdad in a show of force. Trump and his aides met at the White House, concerned about a clash between the 2 sides.  The president made it clear that he didn't want war with Iran;  just talking to their leaders, but Kerry blocked that and tells them not to call. 

 "That's a violation of the Logan Act, which could be prosecuted'', commented Trump, but his people were not for that.  The Logan Act is a United States federal law that criminalizes negotiation by unauthorized American citizens with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States. The intent behind the Act is to prevent unauthorized negotiations from undermining the government's position.Trump’s charges against Kerry come as his own administration had heightened tensions with Tehran.

"Facts First: Putting aside Trump’s charge against Kerry, which Kerry flatly denies, here’s what you need to know about the Logan Act. The act was established in 1799 and makes it a felony for individuals who are not authorized by the US government to negotiate with foreign governments which have disputes with the US. Though the term has been thrown around as an accusation several times this century – and has been used more than once by Trump to attack Kerry – there have been few cases when someone has been indicted for violating the act. These cases took place in the 1800s and no one was ever convicted.

Since the act’s creation, correspondence and interaction between Americans – lawmakers, former lawmakers, and citizens alike – has become increasingly common.

​It’s also common for former secretaries of states and diplomats to stay in touch with their counterparts around the world.."                                         

    PM Netanyahu at UN warning about Iran's nuclear progress and true goals in September 2012, nine years ago. Iran has reached that dangerous red line.  Israelis already have been running the 15 second stint to a bomb shelter almost daily lately.  What if one of those rockets were loaded with a nuclear device?  

Now Biden is changing the USA position back to Obama's position.  We should remember that US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement in May 2018, when it was discovered that Iran had been hiding information about their activities.   

Disclosing operations of one's friend to his enemy is an act of espionage.  Kerry has acted as a spy for Iran by giving them secrets. All the rest of the grumbling about Kerry is averting the fact that he was said to have given secrets to Iran that will definitely harm Israel.  That must be investigated as fully as the investigation of any spy possibility.  New York Times has made the accusation.  Being a government official or past government official makes it even more concerning.  Kerry knows a lot.     

I wouldn't be surprised if Zarif's standing with the Ayatollah has diminished for being to close to John Kerry.  That's more like the Alice and Wonderland experience one has with Iran.  Maybe they see him as a loose cannon.  

                                              

Update:  I cannot find any  proof of Kerry actually telling Zarif any confidential information about Israel other than what was soon to be in the public domain, either dated or about the origin of the information leaked.  The tape would be in Farsi.  We do not know the translator.  On the other hand, we cannot trust Zarif's comment being truthful, either.  It's silly to trust the Iranians in the first place which we had done in dealing with honesty about the uranium goal or how far they have gone with their enterprises, so believing Zarif puts us in the same position.  Trust and opinion have to be replaced with facts.  This could all be old news.  I'm left with the knowledge of Iran's goal of snuffing out Israel, and they have bragged about it many times.  They are putting into danger the whole Middle East with their goal of having atomic weaponry.  This is the country Israel must be concerned with the most.  They even pay and promote Lebanon and Syria to fight against Israel since they are the closest.    

A tweet cited a 2018 article by the Reuters news agency in which then-intelligence minister Israel Katz said that Israel had carried out over 200 airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria over the previous two years.  Kerry, former US secretary of state, cites Israeli minister’s 2018 speech mentioning raids, and State Department notes generally that such operations were public knowledge.   Following the exchange of fire on 10 May 2018, Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel won't allow Iran to turn Syria into a "forward base" against Israel.

Newest Update: Further research tells me that Kerry is not guilty.  The information was already in the Public Domain when Zarif brought this to anyone's attention.  An Israeli general first announced it, then a Minister of Intelligence announced it further.  It's much ado about nothing.  It was exciting to the Republicans for the moment but dates of who made the announcement and when cleared it up.  It all happened in 2017 when Trump was serving his first year in office.  Zarif was not being truthful.  

Resource:

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2015/08/john-kerrys-personal-connection-to.html

https://redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2021/04/26/nyt-john-kerry-disclosed-israeli-military-operations-in-syria-to-the-iranian-foreign-minister-n369173

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/FMfcgxwLtkSDPBJgxFDKsxMcjDHbkGKl

https://redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2021/04/26/nyt-john-kerry-disclosed-israeli-military-operations-in-syria-to-the-iranian-foreign-minister-n369173

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2020/08/irans-use-of-syria-against-israel.html

https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/americas-involvement-world-war- 

  i/espionage#:~:text=It%20was%2C%20%E2%80%9CAn%20act%20to,interference%20with%20military%20operations%20or

https://www.ploughshares.org/issues-analysis/article/why-iran-deal-us-national-interest?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsqmEBhDiARIsANV8H3av9n44xuoA5HxtKGWJ-8PfpqZaZ7MJmJNlgPzizevPoapkTQDEYh8aAj5rEALw_wcB

https://en.geneastar.org/genealogy/kerryj/john-kerry

https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-york-times-buried-bombshell-kerry-iran-israeli-operations

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/26/us/john-kerry-iran-israel-syria.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/nyregion/rudy-giuliani-trump-ukraine-warrant.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At2UbRrS5u8

https://t.co/BTOdFE1khW

— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) April 26, 2021

Beware: John Kerry's Passe Idealism About A Palestinian State

Nadene Goldfoot                                                      

                                      Knesset in Jerusalem

As a majority of Israelis have said again and again, in surveys and through the electoral process:  A Palestinian state may be possible, but not on Palestinian terms. 

 When much of the world, including the US administration, buys into the Amr Musa and Saeb Erekat school of negotiations---which posits that Israel, who they deem as the aggressor, has no right to an inch beyond the 1949 armistice lines, and does a total withdrawal, removal of all Israelis living there like what Israel did with Gaza, with a partitioned Jerusalem, and the right of return of Arabs are the OBJECTIVE REQUIREMENTS OF PEACE  --a dose of cold water is in order.                                        

                 Outside the knesset is the menorah

Jerusalem happens to be the capital of ISRAEL, and no amount of UN newspeak can change that.  for this reason alone, Trump's decision to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem  was long overdue.  It has since turned out to contribute in the long run to the peace with Arab nations now that five of them have made peace with Israel.

This goes against Kerry's  passe thinking of February 2017.  John Kerry spoke carelessly about an "explosion," which radical Islamists might feel obligated to deliver.  It was an attempt to placate Palestinian demands that makes peace less likely.  A hard dose of realism may well set the stage for serious negotiations.  

Kerry gave a rambling speech after the UNSC Resolution 2334 vote and suggested that Jerusalem be kept united while serving as the capital of 2 sovereign states.  no Israeli government in the foreseeable future will take the knife to their dearest city and divide it when it has been a united city since 67's formidable attack on Israel by all the surrounding Arab states when miracle of all miracles, Israel withstood them all and  won.  Don't you think that tells everyone affected something?  Jerusalem is back where it should be; with Israel.            

                          US  Embassy in Jerusalem 

The move to Jerusalem should have been a clear signal to the Palestinians, including key members of Mahmoud Abbas' own Fatah, that their outlandish threats of violence---"WE SHALL OPEN THE GATES OF HELL"UPON AMERICA---will not work, and will no longer be tolerated from an entity that enjoys generous US aid.  to validate such threats, as Kerry did, is to succumb to the same mistake that President Clinton made in 2000, when he responded frantically to the Palestinian burst of violence.  In effect, Clinton signaled to Arafat that his strategy of violence had worked, and he could no extract better terms than what he had been offered at Camp David a few months earlier.  The results were sad but predictable, as they would be if Washington again bows to much coercion.  

                                                     

 Building tunnels into Israel for kidnapping, bringing ammunition to use against Israel are skills of some.  

Trump stopped all the aid to Palestinians, but Biden is renewing them again.   "More than $60m (£46m) in annual funds for the Palestinian security services had been ended, and - while Israel has backed some previous cuts in US aid for Palestinians - officials had expressed concern about this move." "Just six days after taking office, the Biden administration took a sharp turn in U.S. policy in the Middle East, announcing it will resume contact with Palestinian leaders and restore U.S. contributions to the U.N. agency which provides aid to Palestinians". 

That's all right, explained a general in the IDF, as long as it goes to the people and not to ammunition to use against Israel.  A people that are well fed and not wanting would be better neighbors than they are today, state or no state. 

                                                 

The US has confirmed it stopped all aid to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, in a step linked to new anti-terrorism legislation.

The Palestinians have so far been very dependent on Arab handouts, Israel generosity, and UN backing along with their crying, complaining and attacks on Israel.  They have had no way of employment by themselves except to make tunnels.  For 70 years they have been on the dole.  What are their plans for self-induced finances?  Isn't that a consideration for becoming a state?  

 The changes were announced in a virtual speech before the U.N. Security Council by Richard Mills, acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Mills also said the new administration of Biden is committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a secure Israel alongside a "viable Palestinian state." Mills said it is "the best way to ensure Israel's future as a democratic and Jewish state."   He previously served as the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires for Canada.  His education was at  Georgetown University, University of Texas School of Law Austin.

After the announcement of US money returning to the Palestinians, Mills also praised the U.S.-brokered establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab nations, which took place in the past year. Palestinians had seen that as a betrayal of Arab pledges to make peace with Israel only after the Palestinians made peace.  After 70 years of waiting, what did they expect?  

The changes were announced in a virtual speech before the U.N. Security Council by Richard Mills, acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Mills also said the new administration is committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a secure Israel alongside a "viable Palestinian state." Mills said it is "the best way to ensure Israel's future as a democratic and Jewish state."                                           

The Palestinians have not had a change of heart along with the US's change in administration.  "PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Sunday that the Palestinian leadership is ready for “immediate engagement” with the United States if their conditions are met. Shtayyeh added later that he hoped that the new US leadership will place the Palestinian cause on “their list of priorities.”

“We look forward to constructive bilateral US-Palestinian relations towards achieving a just and lasting peace within the frame of two states and ending the Israeli occupation,” Shtayyeh said in a tweet.

Ending the Israeli occupation usually means the end of Jews in Israel.  They still think we are occupiers of Palestine.  

Resource:

Much of this has been the viewpoint of Eran Lerman,Col, PhD  who is a senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.  he is also a member of the faculty at Shalom College. 

The Jerusalem Report :February 6, 2017

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47095082

https://www.npr.org/sections/biden-transition-updates/2021/01/26/960900951/biden-administration-restores-aid-to-palestinians-reversing-trump-policy

https://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-lauds-biden-win-said-planning-to-demand-return-of-us-embassy-to-tel-aviv/