hollywoodtone.blogspot.com John Kerry promises a fair Israel-Palestine peace plan
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com John Kerry promises a fair Israel-Palestine peace plan
Riyadh - According to US Secretary of State John Kerry, Saudi King Abdullah has offered his "enthusiastic support" to US efforts to reach a fair resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Kerry made these comments Sunday after around two-hours-and-forty minutes of talks with King Abdullah, AlJazeera reports. In 2002, King Abdullah proposed his own peace plan called the Arab Peace Initiative. During John Kerry's meeting with King Abdullah and in his meeting King Abdullah II of Jordan, Kerry gave a briefing of his three days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. "I want to thank his majesty for ... his enthusiastic support for the efforts that are being made with respect to the peace process," Kerry told reporters after seeing Abdullah at a desert palace outside Riyadh. "Today, his majesty was not just encouraging but supported our efforts in hopes that we can be successful in the days ahead," Kerry added, saying the Saudi ruler believed a peace deal could bring "great benefits" throughout the Middle East. During this peace-making trip to the region, Kerry's tenth in the last year, he attempted to establish a "framework" for guidelines for any future peace deal. US sponsored peace talks between Palestine and Israel resumed in July after a three-year freeze. Kerry has previously asked Israel to reconsider Saudi King Abdullah's 2002 peace plan, which offers full recognition of Israel in exchange for going back to the 1967 borders. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal was also very pleased with Sunday's meeting calling it "excellent." "There is really no meeting that could have been smoother and more productive than this meeting," Saud al-Faisal told reporters while seated beside Kerry in an airport reception room. "It's a meeting that ... belies any bad vibes about relations that were expressed in many of the media lately," he added, referring to widespread reports strained U.S.-Saudi relations over U.S. policy toward Iran, Syria and Egypt. During his visit to the region, Kerry urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to make "tough choices" to reach a peace deal, AlJazeera reports. He also said he made progress during this visit, and said any peace deal constructs will be "fair and balanced." "In the end all of these core issues fit together like a mosaic, like a puzzle and you can't separate out one piece or another," Kerry said in Jerusalem on Sunday before flying to Amman. Kerry later flew to Saudi Arabia. "We are now at a point where the choices narrow down, and the choices are obviously real and difficult," Kerry said. Both Israeli and Palestinian leaders say the US' proposal for peace favor the other side. According to The AP, in a sign of "intensifying pressure," Kerry asked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland. Abbas has repeatedly refused to do this saying it would jeopardize the rights of Palestinian refugees as well as Palestinian citizens in Israel. Before departing for Jordan Sunday, Kerry praised both Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for "making difficult decisions." "You can see in the press and you see in the public debate that the choices they're making elicit strong responses from their people. And I understand that very, very well," Kerry said. Kerry hasn't really discussed details of the US proposal for peace with reporters. But it seems as if the idea is just like King Abdullah's 2002 Arab Peace Initiative where the Palestinians would recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland in return for Israel giving back the land it seized in 1967. The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel captured all this land in 1967, but they have expressed their willingness to accept "minor land swaps" which would permit Israel to keep some Jewish settlements. Thus far, Netanyahu, at least publicly, has refused to go back to the 1967 borders. Netanyahu demands that Palestine recognizes Israel as the Jewish homeland. "Opposition to recognizing the Jewish state and our right to be here is continuing," Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday. He said the Jewish people are "not foreigners" in the Holy Land. "I reiterate that in my view, this is the root of both the conflict and the incitement, the non-recognition of this basic fact." Israeli hardliners have threatened to "topple" the government if Netanyahu "caves" to US pressure to accept Palestine's terms. The far-right, pro-settlement Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) party threatened to pull out of the coalition if Netanyahu accepts the 1967 borders, AlJazeera reports. They oppose going back to the 1967 borders on both "ideological and security grounds," The AP reports. "A government that accepts the 1967 lines is committing national suicide. We will not be part of it and will try to replace it," said Ayelet Shaked, chairwoman of Habayit Hayehudi. Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman says any peace deal would have to redraw the borders. Lieberman says his group, Yisrael Beiteinu, will not support a peace plan without "swapping territories and populations." Lieberman says his proposal doesn't force anyone to leave their homes. Instead, just the border would be moved. "There is no reason why they shouldn't join their brothers the Palestinians under full Palestinian sovereignty and become citizens of the future Palestinian state, which they yearn for so much," Lieberman said.
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com John Kerry promises a fair Israel-Palestine peace plan