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Former peace negotiators, Israelis and Palestinians, have drafted a new proposal for a two-state confederation, which they hope will provide a solution to Middle East peace efforts.
The plan includes some controversial proposals and it is unclear whether there is support from leaders on either side. But the plan could help shape the debate on the conflict, and it is expected to be presented to US and United Nations officials later.
The plan calls for an independent Palestinian state in much of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, territories that Israel took control of during the 1967 Middle East war. they would have separate governments, but would coordinate at very high levels on security, infrastructure and other issues affecting the citizens of both sides.
Also, according to the plan, about 500,000 Jews living in settlements in the occupied West Bank would be allowed to stay there in large settlements near the border with Israel, after an exchange of territories.
Meanwhile, Jews living deep in the West Bank would be given the opportunity to relocate or become permanent residents of the state of Palestine. The same number of Palestinians – probably refugees from the 1948 war – would be allowed to relocate to Israel as Palestinian citizens with permanent residence in Israel.
The initiative is largely based on the Geneva Accords, a detailed and comprehensive peace plan drawn up in 2003 by prominent Israeli and Palestinian figures, including former officials. The almost 100-page plan for the creation of the confederation includes new and detailed recommendations on how substantive issues should be addressed.
Yossi Beilin, a former senior Israeli official and peace negotiator who co-founded the Geneva Initiative, said that by removing the issue of mass evacuation of citizens living in settlements from the negotiating table, the plan could be more convincing for them.
Israel’s political system is dominated by people living in settlements, but also their supporters, who see the West Bank as the biblical and historical center of the Jewish people and as an integral part of Israel.
The Palestinian stance on these settlements has been a major obstacle to peace and many in the international community see these settlements as illegal. People living in settlements deep in the West Bank – which are likely to end up within the borders of a future Palestinian state – are among the most radical and tend to oppose any territorial division.
“We believe that there is no threat of confrontation with the inhabitants of the settlements and it would be easier for those who want a two-state solution,” Beilin said. This idea has been discussed before, but he said that the confederation would make this idea “more feasible”.
Many other points that hinder the peace process still remain unresolved, including security, freedom of movement, and perhaps most importantly, a lack of trust, as for many years Israelis and Palestinians have faced violence and failed negotiations.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Palestinian Authority declined to comment on the matter.
The main Palestinian figure behind the initiative is Hiba Husseini, a former legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team since 1994, who comes from a prominent family in Jerusalem. Other contributors to this initiative are Israeli and Palestinian professors as well as two retired Israeli generals.
Hussein acknowledged that the proposal was “quite controversial” in terms of settlements in the West Bank, but said the plan generally fulfilled the Palestinians’ fundamental aspiration to have their own state.
“It will not be easy,” she said. “To achieve citizenship and to achieve the desired right to self-determination that we have been working for – realistically, since 1948 – we need to make some compromises.”
Issues related to Jerusalem claims, borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees may be more easily addressed by two states in the context of a confederation, than through the traditional approach of working out all the details before reaching a final agreement.
“We are turning the process around and starting with recognition,” Hussein said.
It has been almost three decades since Israeli and Palestinian leaders gathered in the White House to sign the Oslo Accords, initiating the peace process.
Dozens of rounds of talks held over the years, accompanied by outbursts of violence, failed to reach a final agreement. Also, there have been no serious or substantive negotiations for more than a decade.
The current Prime Minister of Israel, Naftali Bennett, opposes Palestinian citizenship. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who is expected to take over as prime minister in 2023 under the governing agreement, supports the eventual solution through the two-state model.
But none of them are likely to be able to launch any major initiative because they have a fragile governing coalition that spans the political spectrum from hardline nationalist factions to a small Arab party.
On the Palestinian side, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is confined to the West Bank occupied by the Islamic militant group Hamas – which does not recognize the existence of Israel – a group that leads in Gaza. Abbas’s presidential term expired in 2009 and his popularity has plummeted in recent years, meaning he is unlikely to be able to make any historic compromises.
The idea of a two-state solution was introduced so that the Palestinians could have an independent state, allowing Israel to exist as a democracy with a strong Jewish majority. The continued expansion of settlements by Israel, the lack of any peace process and the recurrence of episodes of violence, however, have further complicated the hopes that there may be a division of the territory.
The international community still sees the two-state model as the only real possibility of resolving the conflict.
But the situation is changing, especially among Palestinian youth, who are increasingly seeing the conflict as a struggle for equal rights under what they – and three prominent human rights groups – say. is an apartheid regime.
Israel denies the allegations and considers them an anti-Semitic attack on its right to exist. Lapid has suggested that reviving a political process with the Palestinians would help Israel resist any attempt to classify it as an apartheid state by world bodies.
Next week, Bailey and Hussein will present their plan to US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Beilin said they had already sent copies of the plan to Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Beilin said he sent the plan to people he knew would not reject it immediately. “No one refused. “But that does not mean they agree with this plan.”
“I did not send the plan to Hamas,” he joked. “I do not know his address” ./ REL
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