CAIRO: The Arab League yesterday flagged a shift in the terms of its 2002 Arab Peace Initiative to incorporate the idea of mutual land swaps in the context of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, a step welcomed by Israel.
The principle of land swaps has been affirmed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders in previous rounds of talks but has never formed part of the Arab initiative that was unveiled by Saudi Arabia in February 2002.
Under the original plan, the Arab League’s 22 member states would forge full diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for “total withdrawal by Israel to the June 4, 1967 lines” and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
But the Arab League on Monday said it could involve a “comparable and mutual agreed minor swap of the land” to reflect the realities on the ground.
Details of the revamped proposal emerged late on Monday following talks between top Arab League members and US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Israel’s chief peace negotiator, Tzipi Livni, hailed the announcement as “very good news,” but another official was much cooler.
“Israel welcomes the encouragement that the Arab League delegation and the secretary of state have given to the diplomatic process,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The two sides can present their positions when the negotiations start,” he said. Livni described the move as “an important step,” saying she hoped it would lead to a renewal of direct peace talks that collapsed just weeks after they were relaunched in September 2010. “The statement that was made by the Arab League today is a very positive statement,” she said.
“I believe it is very important for the Palestinians to understand that the Arab world supports a negotiated peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians that ends the conflict,” she said, stressing that the details would have to be hammered out by the two sides, “and hopefully soon.”
“I hope that the Arab League’s statement and position can help in relaunching negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The sooner, the better.”
Details of the new stance were briefly mentioned by the Arab League delegation’s leader, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, at a press conference with Kerry. AFP
GAZA: Israel yesterday launched its first targeted attack in Gaza since a war in November, killing a Palestinian in an air strike that put further strain on a five-month-old ceasefire.
There was also bloodshed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where for the first time since 2011, a Palestinian killed a Jewish settler. Israeli soldiers shot and wounded the attacker after he stabbed the man at a busy intersection.
Israel said the Palestinian killed in the air strike, Haitham Al Meshal, 29, was a jihadi who was an expert in making rockets. It accused him of involvement in a rocket attack from Egypt’s Sinai peninsula against Israel’s Red Sea resort of Eilat on April 17, which had caused no injuries or damage. Reuters
