CMEP Bulletin: Kerry Plan Details Emerge as Israeli Coalition Wobbles
#Palestine, #Israel
The buzz surrounding Secretary Kerry’s framework continues to grow as some speculate on the content and others try to ensure it’s dead on arrival.
This week, Thomas Friedman reports in The New York Times that according to U.S. officials he’s spoken with, Kerry is planning to present, “a U.S. framework that will lay out what Washington considers the core concessions Israelis and Palestinians need to make for a fair, lasting deal.” He writes, “The ‘Kerry Plan,’ likely to be unveiled soon, is expected to call for an end to the conflict and all claims, following a phased Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank (based on the 1967 lines), with unprecedented security arrangements in the strategic Jordan Valley.” He also says that some settlement blocs will remain in the West Bank, but Israel will “compensate the Palestinians with Israeli territory.” It will call for Palestinians to have a capital in East Jerusalem, Palestinians recognizing “Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people” and no right of return for Palestinian refugees into Israel.
The ideas themselves are not groundbreaking. Variations of this formula have been known for years, but getting the parties to accept them would be historic and could move the negotiations decisively closer to ending to the occupation.
Friedman concludes that if this doesn’t work, “Israelis and Palestinians need to understand that Kerry’s mission is the last train to a negotiated two-state solution. The next train is the one coming at them.”