BICOM

The United States’ Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro yesterday provided further perspective on the framework plan for final status talks being developed by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Kerry discussed his ideas for a framework plan with Israeli and Palestinian leaders during a visit to the region earlier this month and he could officially present such a plan during the coming weeks. Earlier this week, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the document being developed reflected “not Israeli positions, but rather American ones,” and that “Israel does not have to agree to everything the Americans present.”

Addressing the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference yesterday, Ambassador Shapiro gave a different assessment, saying that the framework proposal “is very much drawn from ideas the parties have put on the table themselves… Very little of it will be purely American authorship,” although he added, “there will certainly be a role for America to try and bridge some gaps.”

Yesterday, columnist Thomas Friedman outlined in the New York Times what he claims will be included in the outline of Kerry’s plan. He said it “is expected to call for an end to the conflict and all claims, following a phased Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank (based on the 1967 lines)” including “unprecedented security arrangements in the strategic Jordan Valley.” However, Friedman suggested “The Israeli withdrawal will not include certain settlement blocs” and there will be limited land swaps.  Friedman added, “It will call for the Palestinians to have a capital in Arab east Jerusalem and for Palestinians to recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. It will not include any right of return for Palestinian refugees into Israel proper.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s Finance Minister Yair Lapid yesterday warned that the failure to make peace would have a serious economic price, which will “hit every Israeli citizen directly in his pocket” to the tune of a £2billion reduction in GDP.