WASHINGTON (JTA) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s pending framework for Israeli-Palestinian peace reportedly will include a shared capital in Jerusalem and recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
Kerry will unveil the proposal “soon,” New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman wrote in Wednesday’s newspaper.
The plan also would include land swaps based on the 1967 lines, security arrangements in the Jordan Valley and no “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
Such parameters have been reported piecemeal in the Israeli and Palestinian media. Friedman’s column is datelined Tel Aviv, and he does not say who his sources are for the plan, although elsewhere in the column he cites anonymous Israeli and U.S. officials.
The outline meets a key Netanyahu demand — recognition of Israel as a Jewish state — but it is not clear whether the sides would accept such a plan.
Netanyahu has rejected using the 1967 lines as the basis for a border with a Palestinian state and opposes relinquishing Israeli sovereignty within Jerusalem. He also wants Israel to maintain a dominant security presence in the Jordan Valley for the foreseeable future.
Regarding Kerry’s proposal for the Jordan Valley, Friedman describes only “unprecedented security arrangements.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said that he will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state or negotiate away the rights of Palestinian refugees.
