Settlement programme threatens Israel's future: Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned today that Israel's settlement building in the West Bank threatens both hope for peace with the Palestinians and the country's own future as a democracy.
In a major speech setting out his vision of a solution to the conflict, Kerry warned Israel was on a course leading to a "perpetual occupation" of Palestinian-owned land.
"Today, there are a similar number of Jews and Palestinians living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea," he told an audience of diplomats in Washington.
"They have a choice. They can choose to live together in one state, or they can separate into two states," he said.

"But here is a fundamental reality: if the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic -- it cannot be both --and it won't ever really be at peace."
Explaining the US decision last week not to veto a UN Security Council vote to condemn Israeli settlement building, Kerry said: "The vote in the UN was about preserving the two-state solution.
"That's what we were standing up for: Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state, living side by side in peace and security with its neighbors," he said.
"The two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians," Kerry said, warning that such a solution was now in "serious jeopardy.