RANMALLAH: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu plans to tell US President Barack Obama that Israel will accept “some form” of the Arab Peace Initiative, the daily Jerusalem Post reported yesterday.
The Post quoted sources close to the policy review being undertaken by the new Israeli government, Israel will compromise on the Palestinian issue to obtain more direct and aggressive US assistance on the Iranian front.
It is not known if such help includes logistical support for Israeli strikes in the case of a military confrontation with Teheran, the report said. The Arab Peace Initiative was presented by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in 2002.
It calls for normalizing relations between Arab states and Israel in exchange for a total Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 armistice lines and a “just solution” to the Palestinian demand for the return of refugees.
If the traditionally hawkish prime minister indeed invokes the Arab Peace Initiative in his May 18 meeting with Obama in Washington, it would mark a major diplomatic concession for a Likud-Israel Beiteinu government, the report said.
But a senior Israeli official familiar with the issue told the Post that such a move would be more form than substance, since Israel has been in agreement with “some parts” of the initiative for years.
“President Peres has called the Arab initiative ‘important’ and (former) Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert has said it has ‘positive elements’,” the official noted.
But the acceptance of “some parts” of the plan doesn’t mean Israel has accepted it as a whole, the senior official added.
“The main problem is the demand for (the return of) refugees. The plan calls for a ‘just solution’ according to (1948 UN General Assembly) Resolution 194,” which calls for refugees “wishing to return to their homes and live at peace” to be “permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.”
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