Secretary of State John Kerry is planning to unveil a planned framework for Israel-Palestinian peace within the next week aiming to salvage the troubled talks. Details are unclear, but PA President Mahmoud Abbas is making it clear some things wouldn’t be accepted.
According to officials familiar with the situation, Abbas has ruled out the Israeli demand to retain full military occupation over the Jordan-Palestine border in perpetuity, though he is open to the previous US proposals of an international force in the area.
Abbas is also holding firm on East Jerusalem being the capital of Palestine, with some land swaps being permitted to adjust the Green Line to both nations’ satisfaction.
Kerry had previously floated the international force in the Jordan Valley, believing it would placate Israeli opposition to Palestine controlling any of its own borders, but Israel angrily spurned the plan, insisting they need to retail full control themselves. It is unclear what Kerry’s new plan will do about that.
Whatever Kerry’s plan, Abbas is said to have promised to submit it to the Arab League first for a “joint decision,” though the likelihood is that anything close to acceptable to the Palestinians would be immediately condemned by the Israelis and vice-versa.