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| English.news.cn 2011-04-07 03:18:28 |  Feedback  Print RSS  |
by Adam Gonn
JERUSALEM, April 6 (Xinhua) -- In light of the resent upheaval in the Middle East, a group of 40 influential Israeli figures have devised a new peace plan that could be used as a basis to renew the currently frozen Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Most analysts that spoke to Xinhua on Wednesday said this kind of initiatives are important even if the people behind them are not in power, as it both raises public awareness about the peace process and may put pressure on the government. However, there are those who disagree, arguing that it raises false hopes.
IMPORTANT PUSH
Professor Galia Golan from the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Inter-Disciplinary Center in Herzliya believes that the most important aspect of the new plan is not its content but the people promoting it.
"The people are former security people and that's really the key here," Golan told Xinhua.
People behind the new plan include former Israeli army Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, former head of Israel's overseas intelligence agency Mossad Danny Yatom and former directors of the internal security agency, Shin Bet Ami Ayalon and Yaakov Perry.
According to the content revealed to the media, the plan, an offshoot of the 2002 Arab peace initiative, includes land swaps and a division of Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinians.
Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have received copies of the plan, but neither has responded, according to Lipkin-Shahak.
"I personally don't think that Netanyahu is interested in reaching a peace agreement," he said, adding "but it does put pressure on him and one doesn't know what it can actually archive. "
Golan said there had been a similar event prior to Israel's withdrawal from the Palestinian Gaza strip in 2005, when four former security officers talked about the significance to Israel of strengthening Abbas in a radio interview.
PUBLIC OPINION
Professor Mohammed Dajani, director of the American Studies Institute at Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem, told Xinhua that these initiatives are important as they can influence the public opinions in Israel.
"The Israeli public is not well informed about the Arab peace initiative, and any publicity or article dealing with it or bringing it to the front of the agenda is very important," Dajani said.
Dajani is of the opinion that when a peace deal is finally reached, the Arab initiative will be its basis, as it involves a peace agreement not only with the Palestinians but also with the Arab League, which could make it more powerful than just an agreement with the Palestinians.
The Arab peace initiative has been presented to several Israeli governments since 2007, but so far none have formulated an official response.
The U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell in 2009 reportedly said the Arab intuitive would be incorporated in Washington's Middle East policy.
NEGATIVE VIEW
Daniel Diker, a foreign policy fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, maintains that these kinds of initiatives are damaging the efforts made by the Israeli government to promote peace.
Diker said the appearance of these plans is not a new phenomenon. "We have seen this type of plan before," he said, adding that "it is not helping the peace process because it gives enthusiasm to those people outside Israel who reject Israel's rights and needs for defensible border to sustain a viable peace."
He defined "defensible borders" as Israel maintaining control over the western part of the West Bank, which runs along Israel's heavily populated coastal plain, and the Jordan Valley. The Israeli control of a united Jerusalem is also crucial, according to Diker.
Israel sees Jerusalem as its "indivisible" capital. However, the Palestinians want the eastern part of the holy city as the capital of their future state.
"We know that these are not new ideas," Lipkin-Shahak told Xinhua, but stressed that "we have to continue pressuring the leadership or there will never be any change." Editor: yan
(source: Xinhua, China)
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