U.S. efforts to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians are now focused on the presentation by Secretary of State John Kerry of a U.S.-drafted “framework for negotiations.” This will be an American document, but Kerry has said both sides may offer reservations. Kerry told Washington Post columnist David Ignatius on February 7 that a framework is the only way to “be able to keep the negotiations moving.” PLO president Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to initiate action in the UN if the current bilateral talks, which Kerry announced July 20, 2013, fail to produce a comprehensive peace agreement by April 2014. This goal now seems impossible.