BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said US Secretary of State John Kerry’s eagerly anticipated framework plan for final status talks could generate progress in peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Kerry has spearheaded peace negotiations and is set to present his framework plan to Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the coming weeks, in the hope that it will pave the way for an extension of talks beyond the original April deadline. In an interview with Army Radio, Netanyahu commented that Kerry’s plan is “a possible path toward moving the talks forward” and that, “It will take us at least a year to exhaust these negotiations.”

However, the Arab League foreign ministers yesterday rejected one of Netanyahu’s key demands, that the PA recognise Israel as a characteristically Jewish state as a foundation for mutual recognition. Following a meeting in Cairo, an Arab League statement said it, “confirms its support for the Palestinian leadership in its effort to end the Israeli occupation over Palestinian lands and emphasizes its rejection of recognising Israel as a ‘Jewish state.’” PA President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his position on Thursday, telling an audience of Palestinian students, “We shall never agree to recognise the Jewish state.”

In the same speech, Abbas rejected the distinction between isolated West Bank settlements and settlement blocs, which it is assumed will likely remain under Israeli control in any peace deal. Abbas said, “every house and every stone” in all settlements will remain unrecognised. In an interview with Channel Two on Friday, Netanyahu said he is prepared to give up “some settlements” in order to broker a peace deal.

Meanwhile, senior PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said yesterday that during a recent trip to the United States, he had been promised that Israel would release a final batch of 30 Palestinian prisoners on March 29. Israel agreed to free a total of 120 Palestinian prisoners in order to re-start peace talks last July.