KERRY'S PLAN

By Simon Fischler

It is time for the Netanyahu government to outright accept the Kerry Framework agreement. 

I may not appreciate the manner in which the Secretary of State has behaved toward Israel. However, after taking a look at the framework agreement, I believe that it is imperative that Israel accept what the American mediator has proposed. 

The following are what I regard as the most important aspects of Kerry’s program:

The Palestinians must finally accept two states for two peoples, which means accepting Israel as the state of THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 

For all the criticism Kerry has absorbed over this point it stands as a major achievement for the state of Israel.

Or, to put it another way, Kerry is now making it official to all world bodies. Simply this, that there will be no deal now or in the future without Palestinian recognition of the Jewish nation state, the Jewish peoples right to self-determination in their homeland of Israel, PERIOD. 

No less relevant is Kerry’s outright claim to the Arabs,  No to their specious claim of  "Right of Return”. 

This is crucial because Kerry's framework makes it clear that no where in any of the binding or non-binding United Nations resolutions pertaining to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict does it say that refugees have the right to return to Israel proper.

UN resolution 242 clearly states that a just solution needs to be found for the refugee problem. Lord Caradon who was the main author of the resolution made it clear that this point in the resolution spoke of Arab and Jewish refugees and when calling for a "Just solution to the refugee problem" it meant compensation to Arabs but no return to Israel, especially not in order to destroy Jewish statehood. 

This Security Council resolution is binding, meaning it is international law. Israel accepted this in 1967 and the Palestinians,represented by the PLO, rejected it! 

As for the contentious Jordan Valley, Kerry will not satisfy either side but his decision should be accepted by Israel. That is, all crossings into the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will remain in Israeli security hands per the demands of Israel and THE KING OF THE HASHEMITES, Abdullah. This will remain in effect until the Palestinian security forces are truly ready to take responsibility for statehood.

Finally there is the issue of Israeli settlement blocks. Kerry wants them to remain inside sovereign Israel along with Ariel and Hebron. The Arabs living in Hebron will either be compensated to leave or receive Israeli citizenship. 

Those Jews who wish to remain in the future Palestinian state will receive Palestinian citizenship and be offered the same rights that Israeli Arabs receive from the state of Israel. The Palestinians will receive all of Gaza ( The PA with American and Egyptian forces will push out Hamas and hand the last hydra head of the Muslim brotherhood over to the PA) and 90% of Judea and Samaria.

To equal the 10% of land Israel wishes to annex the Palestinians will receive the towns inside the Arab triangle as Foreign Minister Liberman made clear. No Arabs will lose their homes. Actually it will mean just an adjustment of the border and change of citizenship to Palestine that they claim as their nationality in the first place. 

Jerusalem is a sticky issue, but one that really came out better than I thought. It is intentionally vague, very, very vague right now. Can anyone say Abu Dis isn't in East Jerusalem? 

That is what the Arabs along with other adjacent neighborhoods will get. The old city will remain under Israeli control with the help of the Hashemites and Saudi Arabia because only under Israeli control has their been a freedom of religious practice. 

Now is the time to accept Kerry's plan just to show the world it is the Arabs who stand against Peace.