The Government has welcomed US proposals for Middle East peace, which were published this week at a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday by US President Donald Trump.
President Trump was joined at the ceremony by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and it was also attended by Ambassadors from Oman, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
The plan, outlined in a 180 page report, calls for a two-state solution (Israel and a future Palestine) with Israel retaining all of its current West Bank settlements, all of Jerusalem including the holy sites, and security control over the entire West Bank. The capital of the Palestinian state will be in “eastern Jerusalem”, in neighbourhoods beyond Israel’s security barrier.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement following the publication: “We welcome the release of the United States’ proposal for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. This is clearly a serious proposal, reflecting extensive time and effort”. He added: “A peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians that leads to peaceful coexistence could unlock the potential of the entire region, and provide both sides with the opportunity for a brighter future”.
The statement underlined: “Only the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian territories can determine whether these proposals can meet the needs and aspirations of the people they represent. We encourage them to give these plans genuine and fair consideration, and explore whether they might prove a first step on the road back to negotiations”.
During Prime Minister’s Questions this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “This is a problem that has bedevilled the world, and the Middle East in particular, for decades. No peace plan is perfect, but this has the merit of a two-state solution—it is a two-state solution”.
He urged Palestinian Authority leader “for once, to engage with this initiative and to get talking rather than to leave a political vacuum”.
The plan has been rejected outright by Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, calling it “the slap of the century”. He added that the plan “will not come to pass” and that “our people will send it to the dustbins of history”.
The European Union also welcomed the publication of the plan and called for a return to “meaningful negotiations” between the two parties while reaffirming its “established position and…firm and united commitment to a negotiated and viable two-state solution that takes into account the legitimate aspirations of both the Palestinians and the Israelis”.
In the plan, the establishment of a Palestinian state within four years will be contingent on several conditions being met, including disarming Hamas, the Palestinian Authority taking control in Gaza, an end to incitement to violence and the policy of payments to jailed terrorists and recognition of Israel as a Jewish state including in its expanded borders. The issue of Palestinian refugees was not addressed in detail but the plan said a compensation fund would be created.
Israel’s Blue and White leader Benny Gantz endorsed the plan, calling it a “strong, viable basis for advancing a peace accord with the Palestinians”.
The unveiling of the plan is the culmination of three years of work by Jared Kushner’s White House team.
