Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat— The Palestinian leadership, represented by the PLO’s Executive Committee, Fatah’s Central Committee, and a number of representatives of several Palestinian movements, is set to hold a decisive meeting headed by Abu Mazen to discuss the peace plan proposed by John Kerry, the US secretary of state.
Kerry held exhaustive discussions with Mahmud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and an Arab League committee in Amman yesterday in a bid to revive the dormant Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
The five-hour-meeting in a hotel in the Jordanian capital between Kerry and Abbas was concluded with a presentation of Kerry’s final peace plan, to which Abbas reportedly responded: “I hope it will be useful,” adding “I will submit it to the Palestinian leadership,” Wasel Abu Yusef, member of the central committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) said.
In his sixth visit to the region, the top US diplomat is believed to have made considerable progress and is determined to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table before leaving Amman on Friday.
“The ideas put forward by Kerry before the committee provide the ground and a suitable environment to start negotiations,” the Arab League Committee said in a statement released by Jordan’s Petra news agency.
The Arab League delegation declared that the US plan “will lead to a launch of serious negotiations to address all final status issues to end the conflict and achieve a just and comprehensive peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, which will bless the region with security, stability and prosperity”.
Kerry told Abu Mazen that the US is committed to the formation of a Palestinian state within the territory occupied by Israel in 1967, a move believed to be a turning point in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, Asharq Al-Awsat has learnt.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the PA spokesperson said: “All of the issues that can contribute to create proper climate to return to negotiations have been discussed in the meeting.”
“[Abbas] stressed the fundamentals of the Arab and Palestinian position represented by the formation of an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital. For his part, Kerry affirmed the US commitment to establish a Palestinian state based on the two-state solution.”
The Palestinians insist that in order for the peace talks to restart Israel should freeze settlement activities in the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem, recognize the 1967 borders and release all prisoners prior to Oslo I Accord.
Israel, however, has rejected Palestinian preconditions offering instead a gradual release of prisoners and partial or non-declared suspension of settlement in exchange for Palestinian recognition of the state of Israel.
The three-point peace plan revolves around three points: first, restarting peace talks; second, tackling the security needs of both sides particularly Israel; third, implementing Kerry’s USD four billion initiative to strengthen the Palestinian economy in three years’ time.
The meeting of the Palestinian leadership is scheduled to take place on Thursday, in Ramallah.