Israel endangers Obama's peace plan

• The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Israel endangers Obama's peace plan

  • Tel Aviv's decision not to extend the expired 10-month construction freeze on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Apart from the West Bank, Israel occupied Gaza and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
  • Faced with Israel's obduracy and backed by the 22-nation Arab League, the Palestinians have now given the Americans a month's notice to rescue talks by persuading Tel Aviv not to re-start settlement activity in the West Bank.
  • The Israelis argue that there could be a huge influx into the country if an agreement on the “right of return” is reached with the Palestinians.
  • This would mean allowing those Palestinians displaced during the 1948 and 1967 wars the right to return to their homes in Israel.
  • The Palestinians view East Jerusalem as their future capital. However, Israel did not cover this area under its 10-month settlement freeze, which expired in late September.
  • In recent weeks, there have been several indications of the Israelis considering removal from their territory a large number of Palestinians who have acquired Israeli nationality in order to preserve their country's Jewish majority status
  • population-territory swap
  • Under his plan, part of the Palestinian Arab population should be shifted to the future Palestinian state. In exchange, Israelis who vacate their settlements as part of the peace deal should be brought inside Israel, thus reinforcing the country's Jewish character.
  • Israel wants to establish an extensive security presence in the Jordan valley, a thinly populated stretch of barren land, which has the town of Jericho as its famous landmark
  • in order to stop weapon smuggling and infiltration by terrorists from neighbouring Jordan
  • The Palestinians, on the other hand, consider the Jordan valley an area of prime importance to a future Palestinian state.