US Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to revive the peace process, suspended for over four years; a task that will prove to both difficult and divisive. Officially there is no confirmation that a specific plan has been proposed by Kerry to either the Israelis or the Palestinians. But on his third visit to the region since he took office in February, the veteran politician is up to something. He has been twice to Israel and the West Bank since President Barack Obama came to the region last month. He has met Palestinian and Israeli leaders and is reported to have offered Turkey a role in fresh peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
In Istanbul Kerry urged Turkey and Israel to normalize bilateral relations.
Just before Obama left Israel he was able to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to offer a formal apology to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the Israeli commando attack on a peace flotilla heading to Gaza in 2010. It was a diplomatic breakthrough for Obama which indicated his desire to bring the two US allies closer again so as to deal with developments on the Syrian crisis. But according to Hurriyet newspaper Kerry was expected to offer Erdogan a role in future peace talks, especially in light of Turkey’s good relations with Hamas in Gaza. There are doubts that both Israel and Egypt will accept a Turkish role in peace talks.
Palestinian sources talked about promises made by Obama to restart stalled negotiations. They mentioned that Kerry has suggested a new plan based on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. The US wants to amend the peace offer so that it refers to agreed upon land swaps along the 1967 borders. Already the issue of the right of return, under the peace initiative, was left to both parties to come up with an agreed solution. Israel rejects the right of return for Palestinian refugees and insists on keeping a military presence in the Jordan Valley. It also refuses to include East Jerusalem in final status negotiations. In addition successive Israeli governments have ignored calls to freeze settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Certainly the new Israeli coalition Cabinet, headed by Netanyahu, is perceived as the most pro-settler government ever.
Kerry is believed to have asked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to commit to not taking Israel to international courts. On the eve of Kerry’s arrival to Israel a PLO Executive Committee member announced that the Palestinian Authority has agreed to delay its plan to prosecute Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the settlements issue. Hana Amireh said the decision was taken to give a chance to efforts to convince Israel to halt plans to build in area E1 (between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim.)” It is possible that Israel would agree to delay such plans to give Kerry a room to maneuver and to provide the Palestinians with an excuse to go back to the negotiating table.
Other Israeli confident building measures may include easing the security situation in the occupied areas and releasing some Palestinian prisoners.
US efforts come few weeks after an Arab League summit in Doha backed a Qatari proposal to establish a billion-dollar fund to help Arab residents of East Jerusalem. The Palestinians insist that the Arab city is the capital of their future state. The fate of Jerusalem will prove to be the most difficult in any upcoming negotiations. This is probably the reason why President Abbas reaffirmed the historical role of the Hashemites in protecting Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem. He signed what was termed as a historical treaty with King Abdallah last week granting the Jordanian monarch the symbolic title of “Guardian of the Holy Places in Jerusalem.”
Under Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel, Amman’s role in the old city’s holy sites is recognized. Even when Jordan severed political and administrative ties with the West Bank in 1988, it maintained its Waqf role in Jerusalem.
It now appears that Abbas wants Jordan to play a bigger role in future peace negotiations especially over the fate of Jerusalem. Jordan will demonstrate such role in international meetings as well.
Kerry’s visit and his overture to Turkey coincided with the re-election in Cairo of Khaled Meshaal as head of the politburo of Hamas. Meshaal, considered a pragmatist who has accepted the creation of a Palestinians state along the 1967 borders, was able to sideline radical opponents within the militant movement which has control over Gaza since 2007. Meshaal supports Palestinian reconciliation and his moderate influence will be seen as a key change within Hamas. The Palestinian leader wants to be recognized by Washington as a main player in future arrangements.
While Kerry was in the region King Abdallah reaffirmed his country’s efforts to help bring Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table. Few days before a Palestinian official denied reports that a four-way summit was being planned for May in the Jordanian capital. The fate of such summit will depend on the success of Kerry’s current mediation efforts.
— Osama Al Sharif is a journalist and political
commentator based in Amman.
