(Jerusalem Post) - Herb Keinon A blue-chip panel established by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz is drawing up a plan for an Israeli diplomatic initiative that could serve as an alternative to the Quartet's road map for peace in the Middle East. The committee, headed by National Security Advisor Ephraim Halevy, includes Mossad head Meir Dagan, Shin Bet head Meir Dichter, and Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon. According to Halevy's plan, the Palestinians are to abandon their demand for the right of Palestinian refugees to return to pre-1967 Israel even before Israel agrees to a Palestinian state with provisional borders. The plan also stipulates that Israel's agreement to a Palestinian state will be conditional on the Palestinian agreement to declare an end of the conflict with Israel. Both the right of return and the end of conflict clause are considered by many to have been what doomed the Camp David talks in the summer of 2000.
2003-03-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive