Perkembangan yang menarik yang menunjukkan bahwa gejolak di dunia Arab telah
menaruh kembali titik agenda "jalan damai" di Israel, artinya ditinggalkannnya
"jalan militer".
"Jalan damai" itu tentu saja masih panjang..
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Middle East
Prominent Israelis offer 'peace initiative'
The plan, drafted in part by ex-military and intelligence officials, includes
land swaps and no right of return.
Gregg Carlstrom Last Modified: 06 Apr 2011 09:50
The proposal allows Israel to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank in
exchange for equal amounts of territory [EPA]
A group of prominent Israelis, including former high-ranking military and
intelligence officials, has unveiled an "Israeli peace initiative" which it
hopes will prod their government towards a deal with the Palestinian Authority
- but few of the group's proposals are new, and several have been rejected in
the past by Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
The plan, unveiled on Wednesday, would call for Israel to withdraw to 1967
borders, with a series of swaps allowing it to annex major Jewish settlements
in the West Bank. It would not provide a right of return for Palestinian
refugees, though they would receive financial compensation; and it calls for
normalised relations between Israel and Arab states.
"The key principle of all regional peace agreements shall be Israeli
withdrawals, guaranteed security, normal relations, and an end to all
conflicts," the proposal states.
A group of about 40 people worked on the project, including former army chief
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak; former Mossad chief Danny Yatom; Yaakov Perry and Ami
Ayalon, both former heads of Shin Bet; and Amram Mitzna, a former leader of the
Labour party.
"We looked around at what was happening in neighbouring countries and we said
to ourselves, 'It is about time that the Israeli public raised its voice as
well,'" Yatom told the New York Times.
The current Israeli government has yet to comment on the proposal. Prime
minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office says he has received a copy, but will not
comment on the substance of the proposal. Deputy prime minister Dan Meridor
said on Tuesday that he had not seen the document.
Unpopular proposals
The plan's authors hope it will serve as a reference point for negotiations, an
Israeli counterpart to the Arab peace initiative announced in 2002.
Key points of the Israeli plan
Territory: Israel would withdraw to 1967 borders, but would swap land in the
West Bank (up to seven per cent of its total area) on a 1:1 ratio.
Jerusalem: Israel would control Jewish neighbourhoods, Palestine would control
Arab neighbourhoods; Israel would control the Jewish Quarter and the Western
Wall; the Haram al-Sharif would be under nobody's control.
Refugees: Refugees would receive financial compensation, but would only be
allowed to return to Palestine, except for "mutually agreed-upon symbolic
exceptions" who would return to Israel.
Syria: Israel would withdraw from the Golan Heights over five years, except for
"agreed minor modifications and land swaps."
Read the full proposal ยป
Under the proposal, for example, Israel would be allowed to permanently annex
parts of the West Bank, in exchange for equal amounts of Israeli territory
ceded to the Palestinian state.
The Arab peace initiative does not mention these "land swaps" - it calls for a
complete withdrawal to 1967 borders - but they have been a central feature of
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for years.
The plan would allow Israel to swap up to seven per cent of the West Bank's
area, less than the 10.6 per cent that former prime minister Ehud Olmert
proposed in a private meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in 2008.
It would explicitly allow Israel to keep illegal settlements in East Jerusalem
- "Jewish neighbourhoods shall be under Israeli sovereignty," the plan states -
and while it does not specify which West Bank land would be swapped, Israel
would certainly use that provision to annex major settlement blocs like Ma'ale
Adumim and Ariel.
Many other parts of the plan appear to be immediate political non-starters,
either in Israel or in the Arab world.
One likely problem is the proposal's wording on refugees. The Arab peace
initiative calls for a "just solution" to the refugee problem, based on United
Nations resolution 194, which enshrines a Palestinian right of return.
But the Israeli proposal states that refugees will only be allowed to return to
the Palestinian state, save for a few "symbolic exceptions" who will return to
Israel.
The Palestine Papers revealed that the PA's leadership was willing to make
substantial compromises on refugee rights, but these concessions would be
hugely unpopular in the Arab world.
The plan also calls for Israel to return the Golan Heights, the strategic
plateau it seized from Syria at the end of the 1967 war. Syria insists that the
return of the Golan is a precondition for talks with Israel. But Netanyahu has
promised never to return it, and polls find that a majority of Israelis want to
keep the land.
And the proposal would carve up Jerusalem's Old City: Israel would control the
Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall, with the Haram al-Sharif under "no
sovereignty". Palestinian negotiators rejected this same formula during the
2000 Camp David Summit, when Yasser Arafat refused to budge on Palestinian
sovereignty over the Haram.
Something to talk about
Palestinian officials have not commented on the plan; reactions from Israeli
and pro-Israel groups has mostly been positive, but they have avoided
commenting on specifics. J Street, the US-based pro-Israel lobby, was quick to
praise the plan as a "bold move."
"[It] sets forth a clear vision for two states and, in conjunction with the
Arab peace initiative, provides a strong basis to negotiate a regional,
comprehensive peace agreement," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the group's president.
Peres met with Obama, and other senior officials, during a short visit to
Washington this week [EPA]
And the Israeli group Peace Now said the proposal was part of a "public battle
against the current government".
"It is clear that as time passes more and more Israelis are realising that we
need to immediately return to a real political process, with the Palestinians,
and begin to make brave and dramatic steps," the group said in a statement.
The proposal will at least provide a conversation piece later this spring, when
Netanyahu is expected to visit Washington for a series of meetings and public
appearances. Its release comes a day after US president Barack Obama met in
Washington with Israeli president Shimon Peres.
"With the winds of change blowing through the Arab world, it's more urgent than
ever that we try to seize the opportunity to create a peaceful solution between
the Palestinians and the Israelis," Obama said.
But the Obama administration, which spent much of last year trying to broker
direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, has yet to
present its own vision for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
Israel's current right-wing government has shown little interest in permanent
status talks with the PA; Netanyahu has hinted recently at wanting to pursue an
"interim" agreement, rather than a final deal.
Meanwhile, while talks stagnate, Israel continues to build illegally across
those 1967 lines to which it is eventually supposed to withdraw. The Jerusalem
planning committee on Monday gave initial approval for 942 new homes in the
Gilo settlement in southern Jerusalem.
Source:
Al Jazeera
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Topics in this article
People
* Binyamin Netanyahu
* Barack Obama
* Shimon Peres
* Danny Yatom
* Dan Meridor
* Yaakov Perry
* Amram Mitzna
* Amnon Lipkin-Shahak
* Mahmoud Abbas
* Yasser Arafat
* Ehud Olmert
* Ami Ayalon
Country
* Israel
* Syria
* Palestinian Authority
* Palestine
* United States
City
* Jerusalem
* Washington
* Old City
Organisation
* Israeli government
* Environmental Protection Agency
* United Nations
* Obama administration
* Peace Now
* Mossad
* Labour Party
* Shin Bet
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