RIYADH: US Secretary of State John Kerry’s plan for a final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been welcomed by a cross section of Saudi society. Saudis called his ideas a shift from the longstanding US policy on the key regional issue.
Tearing into Israel over settlements, Kerry on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dragging the country away from democracy.
In a farewell speech, Kerry laid out a vision for peace and staunchly defended President Barack Obama’s recent move to allow the UN Security Council to declare Israeli settlements illegal.
He said: “If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic, it cannot be both, and it won’t ever really be at peace.”
An official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday applauded the remarks, saying that the Kingdom welcomes the proposals put forth by the US secretary of state.”
The Kingdom views the proposals as being in accord with a majority of resolutions of international legality, and most of the elements of the Arab Peace Initiative adopted at the Arab Summit in Beirut in 2002, and by the Islamic Summit in Makkah in 2005,” the official said.
“The proposals represent an appropriate basis for achieving a final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” the official added.
Mohamed Al-Khunaizi, a senior member of the Shoura Council, also welcomed Kerry’s proposals.
Al-Khunaizi told Arab News: “The Kingdom is looking forward to an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, a joint capital for both countries.”
He said that if the proposal had come earlier and not in the farewell speech of Kerry, it would have been better.
However, he expressed hope that the incoming administration would have a serious look at Kerry’s plan. Kerry, in his speech, staunchly defended outgoing President Obama’s move to allow the UN Security Council to declare Israeli settlements illegal, the spark that set off an extraordinary and deepening diplomatic spat between the US and its closest Mideast ally.
Political commentator and columnist Majed Abdullah Al-Hedayan supported Kerry’s proposal, saying this is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace. “Israel should understand the importance of the proposed peace plan,” he added.
Breaking sharply from longstanding US policy that foreign powers should not impose a solution, Kerry unveiled a six-part outline of what a future peace deal could look like, and the outline tracked closely with principles long assumed to be part of an eventual deal.
Kerry also questioned Netanyahu’s commitment to Palestinian statehood and said the government he leads is “the most right-wing in Israel’s history.”
While Israel’s Arab population has citizenship rights, the roughly 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank do not possess the same. Israel tightly controls their movement; they can be subjected to Israeli military law; and they do not have a right to vote in Israeli elections. They are governed by the Palestinian Authority, which has only limited powers of autonomy.
Tearing into Israel over settlements, Kerry on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dragging the country away from democracy.
In a farewell speech, Kerry laid out a vision for peace and staunchly defended President Barack Obama’s recent move to allow the UN Security Council to declare Israeli settlements illegal.
He said: “If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic, it cannot be both, and it won’t ever really be at peace.”
An official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday applauded the remarks, saying that the Kingdom welcomes the proposals put forth by the US secretary of state.”
The Kingdom views the proposals as being in accord with a majority of resolutions of international legality, and most of the elements of the Arab Peace Initiative adopted at the Arab Summit in Beirut in 2002, and by the Islamic Summit in Makkah in 2005,” the official said.
“The proposals represent an appropriate basis for achieving a final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” the official added.
Mohamed Al-Khunaizi, a senior member of the Shoura Council, also welcomed Kerry’s proposals.
Al-Khunaizi told Arab News: “The Kingdom is looking forward to an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, a joint capital for both countries.”
He said that if the proposal had come earlier and not in the farewell speech of Kerry, it would have been better.
However, he expressed hope that the incoming administration would have a serious look at Kerry’s plan. Kerry, in his speech, staunchly defended outgoing President Obama’s move to allow the UN Security Council to declare Israeli settlements illegal, the spark that set off an extraordinary and deepening diplomatic spat between the US and its closest Mideast ally.
Political commentator and columnist Majed Abdullah Al-Hedayan supported Kerry’s proposal, saying this is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace. “Israel should understand the importance of the proposed peace plan,” he added.
Breaking sharply from longstanding US policy that foreign powers should not impose a solution, Kerry unveiled a six-part outline of what a future peace deal could look like, and the outline tracked closely with principles long assumed to be part of an eventual deal.
Kerry also questioned Netanyahu’s commitment to Palestinian statehood and said the government he leads is “the most right-wing in Israel’s history.”
While Israel’s Arab population has citizenship rights, the roughly 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank do not possess the same. Israel tightly controls their movement; they can be subjected to Israeli military law; and they do not have a right to vote in Israeli elections. They are governed by the Palestinian Authority, which has only limited powers of autonomy.
