Israeli Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Binyamin Ben Eliezer on Wednesday put forward to the party Central Committee a new peace plan, characterized with a Palestinian state, a divided Jerusalem, a land swap and a special force for the Old City in East Jerusalem.
"The plan I am talking about is based primarily on a vision - a vision of two states living side-by-side in peaceful co-existence - Israel and Palestine," Ben Eliezer told party members at the Kibbutz Shfayim, north of Tel Aviv.
Adopting much of the plan put forward by former U.S. President Bill Clinton at the Camp David summit in July, 2000, Ben Eliezer said that the Palestinian state will be established "on the vast majority of the West Bank and Gaza Strip."
He added that the future Palestinian state would enjoy territorial continuity and "Israel will be open to a territory swap with the Palestinians."
He also proposed that Israel's internationally-recognized capital consist of West Jerusalem and the Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, while the Palestinians control the Arab areas of East Jerusalem.
Ben Eliezer said that it is in Israel's interests to relinquish control of the Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, otherwise the Jewish majority in the capital would be threatened.
According to his new plan, the Old City and the holy sites in Jerusalem should be administered by a special force that would recognize the importance of these places to all sides.
Ben Eliezer said that there would be no final sovereignty over the Temple Mount, but rather an arrangement that is acceptable to all sides.
The Labor leader also ruled out the right of return for Palestinian refugees in his new plan, and said that under a final- status agreement, Israel would evacuate some settlements from Palestinian-controlled areas.
(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2002)
