Channel 2 Diplomatic Correspondent, Udi Segal, reported in his weekly column in the Maariv newspaper that former President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas engaged in negotiations to come up with a plan that would be accepted by Netanyahu and the Israeli political right.
Segal said that Peres received permission from Netanyahu to search for a way through the diplomatic standstill "possibly because he wanted to use Peres to legitimize the peace talks and help maintain good foreign relations. But Peres was not going to be used as a mere fig leaf and creatively moved beyond the limits he had been given." This is similar to what happened in the Oslo negotiations.
According to Segal, Peres and Abbas reached an agreement in principle in which which the IDF would have units stationed to protect Israeli citizens within a Palestinian State.
"The details were not finalized, but the idea was moving forward until Netanyahu blocked it at the last minute while Peres was on a visit to Jordan." as revealed by reporter Ben Caspit, known for his intense dislike of Netanyahu. The shelved plan later received a modicum of approval when Netanyahu hinted in an interview with Channel 2 in 2013 that many settlements might remain in a Palestinian state." wrote Segal.
"If this opportunity really existed, then it was lost. Peres stayed home. Abbas felt betrayed and walked away from the idea. And Netanyahu worked on the plans of Tony Blair, which ended up being a dead end. Peres tried until the last minute. He never stopped dreaming. He knew from experience that the State of Israel was born from a dream, a vision. From the dream of Herzl." Segal added.
Peres' earlier dream of peace after the Oslo Accords went up in terror attacks that caused the deaths of close to 2000 Israelis. Peres' idea of having the IDF protect Israelis travelling on the roads of Judea and Samaria while living under a Palestinian Arab regime is seen by most Israelis as an experiment with human lives and has been rejected by the right.