Israel 'proposes land swap' as part of peace deal with Palestinians
Israeli official have suggested a controversial land-swap arrangement with the Palestinians that could see 300,000 Arab citizens being transferred out of Israel's jurisdiction, it has been reported
3:52PM GMT 01 Jan 2014
Israel has reportedly floated the controversial idea of land swaps with the Palestinians in a move aimed at retaining major settlements in the West Bank while bolstering the country's Jewish population after a peace agreement.
Under the proposal, territory in an area of northern Israel known as "The Triangle" would be transferred to a new Palestinian state along with 300,000 Arab Israeli citizens who live there, Maariv newspaper reported. That would reduce the proportion of Arabs living in Israel to 12 per cent, compared to around 20 per cent at present, and ease concerns about a dilution of the Jewish character of the state.
In return, Israel would be allowed to keep settlement blocs where large numbers of Israelis live on land currently claimed by the Palestinians as part of a future state.
Israeli officials have proposed the idea to their American counterparts amid discussions over a future peace deal, according to Maariv, which published the story ahead of yet another visit to the region by John Kerry, the US secretary of state, who was expected to arrive in Israel on Wednesday night with a plan to persuade the two sides to sign a "framework agreement".
Government lawyers are said to have been examining the legal implications of such a swap, particularly for the Israeli citizenship of the Arab population in the affected territory.
The triangle region is dominated by Arab towns and villages on the Israeli side of the pre-1967 Green Line border.
Past opinion polls have suggested that residents overwhelmingly oppose having their towns transferred to Palestinian jurisdiction.
While there was no official Israeli verification of the report, it drew a furious response from the Palestinians, who said the idea amounted to "ethnic cleansing" and a potential "war crime".
"If it's true that they are entertaining this idea, it should be taken very seriously by everyone. It would be an alarming sign," one official close to the Palestinian negotiating team said.
"We are not going to accept any exchange of population. We want two states on the 1967 borders. When Israel recognises the 1967 borders, we can accept minor border modifications. But we have never accepted nor are we going to accept any exchange of population between Israel and Palestine."
The Palestine Liberation Organisation explicitly rejects the notion of allowing Israel to keep swathes of territory containing large settlement blocs, declaring in a position paper that it will only accept swaps on a "settlement by settlement basis".
At the same time, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has refused to publicly accept the principle of negotiations based on the 1967 borders with appropriate land swaps, as advocated by Western diplomats promoting a two-state solution to the historic conflict.
However, Avigdor Lieberman, the hawkish foreign minister and Mr Netanyahu's ally, has repeatedly pressed the idea of territorial exchanges involving the transfer of Israeli Arabs and is said to have raised it in recent talks with US and European officials.
Israeli security officials are also said to have rejected Mr Kerry's compromise proposals for security arrangements in the West Bank's strategically-sensitive Jordan Valley area after any peace agreement.
The US secretary of state suggested a limited Israeli troop presence in the region for up to 15 years, bolstered by a high-tech surveillance system. Israel has demanded a much bigger military presence to be maintained indefinitely, while the Palestinians refuse to countenance any Israeli troops on their territory after statehood.
In a sign of the Jordan Valley's growing importance in the peace process, Right-wing parliamentarians and settlers' group will stage a ceremony on Thursday marking new building work in Gitit, a settlement in the area. The Land of Israel Parliamentary Caucus is timing the event to coincide with Mr Kerry's visit. Those attending will include Gidon Saar, the interior minister and a rising star in Mr Netanyahu's Likud party.
It comes after a cabinet committee voted to approve a bill in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, proposing annexation of the Jordan Valley. Mr Netanyahu is expected to block the plan but its approval symbolises the opposition within government ranks to a peace deal.
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