Kerry´s framework deal: What Israel cannot accept.

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Friends of Israel Initiative

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is intensively working to achieve a framework deal between Israelis and Palestinians in order to create a negotiation basis for peace talks. Such a framework deal, according to Mr. Kerry’s expectations, will be signed by both parties at the end of this month.

However, some core issues to be agreed, which are also traditional key points of the conflict, have triggered controversy and doubts about the success of Kerry´s initiative. The issues focus on the Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish State; the Israeli presence, both civilian and military, in the Jordan Valley; and Jerusalem´s status. In spite of statements by Mahmoud Abbas regarding these matters, Israel cannot afford to surpass several limits.

The State of Israel self-identifies as a Jewish and Democratic State. The Jewishness of the State is a historical claim, aimed to serve as a homeland for the Jewish people — thus also being a foundational fact. As the spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yigal Palmor has reminded; “When we say a Jewish State, we don’t mean a religious state, we mean a nation-state of the Jewish people, just like Palestine will be the nation-state of the Palestinian people.” Besides, by being recognized as a Jewish State, Israel will finally get ultimate recognition of the Jewish people’s historical legitimacy over the territory – something that has always been denied by Palestinian leaders.

The military presence in the Jordan Valley is essential for Israel´s security. Despite the mainstream formula regarding the pre-1967 borders and land swaps on the negotiation arena, Israel cannot allow to leave the Jordan Valley to international peacekeeping troops, considering what has happened in the past. The examples are really clear. In May 1967, Gamal Abdel Nasser´s army easily expelled the UNEF, giving way to one of the main causes of the Six Day War. The international force, UNIFIL, was deployed in Southern Lebanon in 1978, but it did not avoid Palestinian attacks on Israeli territory, which precipitated the war in the summer of 1982. On October 7, 2000, once Israel withdrew its troops, UNIFIL witnessed how Hezbollah attacked Israeli positions and kidnapped three soldiers; yet, it did not intervene.

Furthermore, considering the current frame – above all the ongoing Civil War in Syria, where Hezbollah and Iranian Republican Guard fighters are on the ground – and with the threat of the conflict spreading across the region, Israel cannot accept to withdraw from the Jordan Valley.

Therefore. Israel’s borders will not be safe and secure protected by international forces — and, secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force is, by the way, the main demand of the so-claimed U.N. Security Council Resolution 242.

Jerusalem was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Israel and it is obviously connected to Jewishness. In this regard, in 2001, Sari Nuseibeh, Palestinian professor and president of the Al-Quds University in Jerusalem stated; “I would be blind to disclaim the Jewish connection to Jerusalem.”

Conversely, Jerusalem has never been the capital of a Palestinian State —no state called Palestine has been set up on the territory. It is also certainly worth remembering that Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967 without any Palestinian demand over it. Hence, Israeli claims to Jerusalem as capital are more than legitimate. Even so, in 2000, Ehud Barak offered to divide Jerusalem, including the old city, and the Palestinian leadership, under Arafat’s designs, once again said no to peace.

On January 11, in a wide-ranging speech, Mahmoud Abbas highlighted that, “there will be no peace” without a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem and that he would not recognize Israel as a Jewish State. Meanwhile, despite the Palestinian president’s unwilling attitude to negotiate, Israel continues to make painful concessions, such as the release of terrorist convicts, who have been welcomed as heroes by the PNA government.

In the wake of Abbas’s statements, which show an evident rejection to sit at the negotiation table, Kerry should take notice of what Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said to the Saban Forum held in Washington last December:

“The core of this conflict has never been borders and settlements — it’s about one thing: the persistent refusal to accept the Jewish State in any border.”

Abbas’s inflexible reasons aside, the Friends of Israel Initiative has always supported a fair, lasting, and negotiated peace based on the two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians; however, imposing such terms on Israel will undoubtedly harm the security of Israel as a Western country — security that is one of our top goals.