U.S. mulls formulating a principles paper on core issues of Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Israel News - Haaretz.com
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The Trump administration is considering drawing up a set of principles for resolving the core issues, which would be the basis for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on ending the conflict, Israeli, Palestinian and American officials say.
The White House has not yet decided on the outline of principles with which the administration will attempt to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The possibility of drafting a “Principles Paper” is the subject of internal debates among various administration officials dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Last Thursday, two days after the end of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the region, his envoy Jason Greenblatt came to Jerusalem and Ramallah, meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. An Israeli source familiar with these talks said the envoy and the two leaders discussed some ideas the administration is considering with regard to the plan to resume negotiations. The source stated that Greenblatt wanted to hear from them what plan they would like to see for resuming negotiations and how they wish to see the process conducted, as well as what they would like to see as its outcome.
A few days after this meeting, Netanyahu, in a meeting with Knesset members, provided a peek at some options being considered by the White House, hinting that one possibility is the outline of principles. “The current administration fervently wishes to put something on the table,” said Netanyahu in a closed meeting with Likud MKs last Monday. “We have positions that are important for us, but that doesn’t mean that these are acceptable to them,” he said.
Netanyahu and his senior advisers are preparing for the possibility that the Trump administration would want to draw up a Principles Paper as a first step in restarting negotiations, or will present the two sides with such a document as an American proposal that would serve as the basis for resuming talks on a final settlement. “We estimate that they will bring a plan but we don’t know what it will be,” said an Israeli official.