A GROUP of prominent Israelis, including heads of the army and security services, hopes to revive the peace initiative by announcing details of possible treaties with the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon.
The Israeli Peace Initiative, a two-page document, states Israel will withdraw from the land it occupied in 1967 in both the West Bank and the Golan Heights and pay compensation to refugees. The document has been given to Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, who has said he will read it with interest.
The authors of the document, to be launched in Tel Aviv today, say it is inspired by the revolutions in the Middle East. It presents an opportunity for Israelis to participate in the “winds of change”.
"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'," Danny Yatom, former head of Israeli external security agency Mossad, told the New York Times. "We feel this initiative can bring along many members of the public."
The group aims to generate public support for a peace agreement that will force the Israeli government to re-engage with the Palestinians, who have suspended meetings in protest at continued settlement building in the West Bank. Palestinians see such building as “facts on the ground” that obstruct negotiations.
Yaakov Perry, a former head of Shin Bet, the internal security agency, said he hoped the plan would galvanise the Israeli government.
"We are isolated internationally and seen to be against peace," he told the New York Times. "I hope this will make a small contribution to pushing our prime minister forward. It is about time that Israel initiates something on peace."
The initiative recognises the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, sponsored by the government of Saudi Arabia, as “a historic effort made by the Arab states to reach a breakthrough and achieve peace on a regional basis”.
The Israeli initiative endorses the Arab statement that “a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security”.
The initiative lays out the framework for peace agreements between Israel, Syria and the Palestinians. It calls for a sovereign and independent Palestinian state based on the borders between Israel and Jordan in 1967 but modified to ensure territorial contiguity for the Palestinian state. Some settlements would be placed under Israeli control.
Compensation would be paid to refugees and their host countries by Israel and the international community but the refugees would be able to return only to the Palestinian state, with a few exceptions returning to what is now Israel.
The plan also calls for a road link between the West Bank and Gaza, which would cut across Israeli territory but would be under Palestinian control.
It wants Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights over five years to achieve peace with Syria and a peace agreement with Lebanon.
– ( Guardianservice)