The United States will present its own peace plan to Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, a senior Knesset member told the Israeli media.
Zahava Gal-On, chairman of the left-wing Meretz party, said in a statement Nov. 4 that Secretary of State John Kerry told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his plan to intervene with his own draft agreement after it appeared that staying on the sidelines did not help.
Gal-On said she learned of the plan from Palestinian and U.S. officials. Israeli newspapers verified her claims, citing unnamed U.S. sources.
The plan, to be presented in January, will be based on the 1967 borders with land swaps as well as the Arab League Peace Initiative, Gal-On told the Israeli daily Haaretz.
In the current round of peace talks, Palestinian and Israeli negotiators over the past three months have met 15 times for sessions that have lasted several hours. The talks are scheduled to last nine months.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly told his Fatah faction Nov. 4 that there has been no progress in the talks and said they could break down over Israel’s announcement last week of new construction in West Bank settlements.
Other Palestinian officials said they were “disappointed” by the U.S. role in brokering the talks. — jta