MIDEAST/FILE: Former senior Israeli officials present a new peace plan, hoping to break the impasse in the Middle East talks

Record ID: 349275

  • Title: MIDEAST/FILE: Former senior Israeli officials present a new peace plan, hoping to break the impasse in the Middle East talks
  • Date: 7th April 2011
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (APRIL 6, 2011) (REUTERS) FORMER ISRAELI OFFICIALS AND SECURITY CHIEFS CONVENING NEWS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCING ISRAELI PEACE INITIATIVE FORMER ISRAELI LAW MAKER YEHUDA BEN MEIR SITTING NEXT TO YUVAL RABIN, SON OF LATE ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER YITZHAK RABIN (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER ISRAELI LAW MAKER, YEHUDA BEN MEIR SAYING: "In light of the continuing po
  • Embargoed: 22nd April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic, Jerusalem, Israel, Lebanon
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA2T063WHAU5HE3CJZNIYKLDWDL
  • Story Text: Former top Israeli officials presented a new peace plan on Wednesday (April 6), in the hope of pressurising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to renew deadlocked peace talks with the Palestinians.
    The plan is based on a 2002 Arab initiative which Israel has avoided adopting because of its call to repatriate refugees and fully withdraw from land captured in a 1967 war.
    About 40 prominent Israelis backed the project, among them dovish ex-political leaders as well as former heads of the Mossad, the Shin-Bet security service and Israeli military.
    "In light of the continuing political stalemate over the past years and especially in view of the current dramatic events that are taking place in the area and their effect of the state of Israel, its security and international status, we call upon the government of Israel to make a courageous decision and take the initiative, the purpose of which is to advance a regional peace agreement in the Middle East, to strengthen the security of Israel in the tumultuous region and its problematic international standing. We call upon the government to present a framework for the conclusion of the Israeli-Arab conflict as a comprehensive response to the 2002 Arab peace initiative," former Israeli Law Maker, Yehuda Ben Meir told reporters at the opening of the news conference in Tel Aviv.
    A spokesman speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, confirmed media reports that the plan urged Israel to agree to Palestinian statehood in Gaza and in nearly all the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
    It proposes possible financial compensation for Palestinian refugees and dividing control over Jerusalem with largely Palestinian neighbourhoods being put under their control while Jewish areas would be governed by Israel.
    Palestinian refugees could be offered compensation though a small number may be permitted to return to former homes in Israel, the spokesman added.
    The plan also calls for a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Golan Heights, land captured from Syria in the same 1967 Middle East war, in exchange for guarantees of regional security and economic projects, the spokesman said.
    Former head of Israeli Shin Bet security service, Yaakov Perry, said the initiators of the plan were "begging" the government to accept its framework.
    "We are asking, we are begging our government, our Prime Minister, to accept the framework of the initiative and then go into details. We are encouraged by the feedbacks that we have got from, I would say, quite a variety of persons and personalities all over the Arab world."
    The Israeli prime minister has been shown a copy of the plan but has made no public comment.
    Netanyahu has agreed to a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in principle, but U.S.-brokered negotiations collapsed in September in a dispute over continued Jewish settlement building in the West Bank.
    Perry acknowledged there will be "obstacles" to the implementation of the plan.
    "We cannot guarantee that everything will work. It's not a piece of cake. But what we are trying to do is to say 'well. let's try, let's initiate, let's sit and try to come to an agreement. No doubt that it will take time No doubt that our obstacles are going to be from many sides and lots of surprises," Perry said.
    Efforts to revive these talks have so far failed and the Palestinians are focusing their efforts on building international support for a unilateral declaration of independence via the United Nations in September.
    Israeli leaders fear such a move could leave them isolated on the diplomatic stage and some of Netanyahu's cabinet ministers have urged him to seize the initiative and present a new plan to break the deadlock.
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