Netanyahu considering interim peace deal

Ramallah: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently considering a plan to show the necessary cooperation with the Palestinians on the establishment of a Palestinian state with temporary borders with immediate effect, negotiate the principles of a future final status agreement, with granting the Palestinians all the guarantees regarding the permanent borders of their state.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Wednesday that Netanyahu is considering an interim peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority that would be implemented immediately.

The change in Netanyahu's strategy was based on the spreading protests and anti-government protests in the Arab world.

"The Palestinians are not ready to reach a final status agreement to end the conflict, in light of the instability in the region," Netanyahu was quoted as saying.

"We do not want to evade a final status agreement, but an interim agreement is the way to get there," an official at the Israeli Prime Minister Office said.

The details of Netanyahu's plan are not clear so far, and that the fact whether Netanyahu is seriously interested in moving forward with the peace process or that his claimed plan was a mere trail balloon.

Earlier, the Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Leiberman has proposed a long term interim agreement, under which the Palestinians will be able to establish their own state on 45- 50 per cent of the West Bank with temporary borders.

Shaul Mofaz, the Head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and former Defense Minister proposed the establishment of a Palestinian state with temporary borders on 60 per cent of the West Bank, along with an Israeli commitment that borders would eventually be aligned with those that preceded 1967 War.

Representatives of the Mideast Quartet, the US, the EU, the UN and Russia will meet today in Brussels to discuss the possible methods of renewing the Israeli- Palestinian peace talks.

The Quartet has sent invitations for both the Israelis and Palestinians, but Netanyahu decided not to send an envoy to attend the meeting, fearing the Quartet would impose an initiative on Israel for the resumption of the peace talks.

The Palestinian Authority however dispatched former head of the Negotiation Affairs Department Dr. Saeb Erekat who has earlier quit the head of the Palestinian Negotiating Team after the publication of the Palestinian Papers on Al Jazeera.

Netanyahu made it clear to the Quartet that he will never dispatch his envoy Isaac Molho to the meeting, unless there were enough guarantees that Molho will meet Erekat directly, a move which the Palestinians strictly refused and insisted on indirect talks with the Israelis.

Netanyahu contacted the Obama Administration several times questioning the nature and details of the Quartet final statement, but he arrived on nothing, where he was on the verge of boycotting the meeting. The Quartet announced however that it will dispatch representatives to Jerusalem to meet Molho few days after the meeting.

The Palestinian Authority said that Netanyahu is only floating a trial balloon, knowing for sure that the Palestinian side will strictly refuse his plan and proposal.

A senior official at the Palestinian Authority told Gulf News that Netanyahu is attempting to kill the outcome of the Quartet meeting even before it takes place.

The official stressed that a Palestinian state with temporary borders has been offered several times on the Palestinian leadership which refused it and rejected even to discuss this proposal.

The official said that Netanyahu's claimed plan is meant to disturb the Quartet meeting, with a ‘silly' Israeli offer for discussion, and when it is refused by the Palestinians refuse it, the Israelis will go back to their earlier rhetoric that there was no Palestinian partner for peace and that the Palestinian leadership is not capable of making peace.

Fatah meanwhile strictly warned about the dangers of Netanyahu's plan of establishing a Palestinian state with temporary borders.

Fatah Spokesman Jamal Nazzal said in an official statement that Fatah will never accept anything less than a sovereign and independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borderlines and with East Jerusalem as its capital.

"Netanyahu has come up with this plan after he touched indications of an European readiness to recognize a Palestinian state in the coming September," he said.

Nazzal said that Fatah does not believe that Netanyahu's plan was a mere trial balloon, but this plan is meant to find a different framework to replace the international recognition framework, where the entire world is expected to recognize the Palestinian state.

"Many political parties and independents in Europe believe that Europe is capable of making a decisive and strategic decision regarding the Palestinian cause," he said.