John Kerry's Double-Edged 'Apartheid' Apology

By Tom Rayner, Middle East News Editor

After all the shuttle diplomacy, US Secretary of State John Kerry's unintentional slip of the tongue probably felt like a gaffe.

In the Middle East, words are weapons - and Mr Kerry left his safety catch off.

A secret recording of a closed-door meeting published by The Daily Beast captured John Kerry warning Israel could become an "apartheid state" if talks to bring about a two-state solution fail.

The response was as furious as it was predictable.

Israeli cabinet minister Yisrael Katz took to Facebook, writing: "Shame on you Kerry! There are words that mustn't be said."

Republican Senator Ted Cruz called for his immediate resignation.

Mr Kerry with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem earlier this month

Mr Kerry duly released a statement saying he should have "chosen a different word" and insisting he wished he could "rewind the tape".

But was this a full-blooded apology? Not even close to it.

In fact, like any good crisis, it provided an opportunity.

Tuesday was the deadline for the nine months of negotiations Mr Kerry had hoped would achieve a final agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.

Those talks were suspended last week but in truth they had been dead in the water weeks before.

But instead of delivering some anodyne statement about giving things more time, Mr Kerry has been able to talk more frankly than ever.

Palestinians after Friday prayers in Jerusalem's Old City earlier in April

"Never have I stated, publicly or privately, that Israel is an apartheid state or that it intends to become one," he said.

However, he said that, in the long term, "a unitary, binational state cannot be the democratic Jewish state".

"Justice Minister Livni and former Prime Ministers Barak and Olmert have all invoked the spectre of apartheid to underscore the dangers of a unitary state for the future," he added.

Unshackled by the Daily Beast, Mr Kerry has been able to raise that spectre too.

The two-state solution mantra is that Israel cannot remain both "Jewish" and "democratic" if it fails to cut a deal creating an independent Palestinian state.

The reason is demographic - if the Palestinian Territories and Israel were a single state, the Jewish majority would be numerically under threat.

Israeli border police talking to Jewish settlers near Nablus

The only way such a state could remain "Jewish", the theory goes, is if the democratic rights of non-Jews were severely curtailed.

That may not scare those on Israel's right, such as economy minister Naftali Bennett, who say the country is entering a new "realist" era, which may involve "imperfect" solutions.

But it terrifies many in Israel's mainstream, who fear international isolation like that applied to apartheid South Africa.

Writing in Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, liberal commentator Nahum Barnea warned Mr Bennett and his ilk are controlling Netanyahu's government and "neutralising it politically".

"Israel will become an apartheid state," Mr Barnea warned, saying it will be "shunned by businesses in the world (and) come under siege politically, legally and culturally".

Mr Kerry's "apartheid" slip may have been unintentional but the timing may be fortuitous.

If he has inadvertently galvanised a more intense discussion inside Israel about the ominous dark clouds building on the horizon, he will make no apology for it.

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