Washington/Tel Aviv | Donald Trump said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) that his long-delayed Arab-Israeli peace plan would lay the foundations for “a realistic two-state solution”, but it appeared to require the Palestinians to give up key negotiating positions they have fought for over the past three decades.
Setting the tone for a plan weighted in favour of Israel, the US president said Jerusalem, the holy city, would be the undivided capital of the Israeli state. David Friedman, US ambassador to Israel, later told reporters that a “meaningful portion” of the occupied West Bank would also be allocated to Israel, including the Jordan Valley.
“Today Israel has taken a giant step toward peace,” Mr Trump said as he unveiled the plan at the White House, flanked by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister. “My vision presents a win-win opportunity for both sides, a realistic two-state solution that resolves the risk of Palestinian statehood to Israel’s security.”
He said the proposals would more than double Palestinian territory, but did not provide details how that would work in practice. He said the Palestinian authorities would have four years to meet US-set conditions of statehood, during which Israel committed not to develop the land allocated for a future state.
He added that the Palestinian capital would be in eastern Jerusalem, but did not state where. Mr Netanyahu said it would be in Abu Dis, a suburb separated from the holy city by an Israeli security barrier.
Read the article by Katrina Manson and Mehul Srivastava in the Australian Financial Review (from the Financial Times).