Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon rejected on Wednesday U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), as outlined by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times.
According to Friedman, Kerry’s plan will call for a phased Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria based on the 1949 lines, with "unprecedented" security arrangements in the strategic Jordan Valley.
The Israeli withdrawal will not include certain settlement blocs, but Israel will compensate the Arab side for this with Israeli territory. The deal will call for “Palestine” to have a capital in Arab eastern Jerusalem and to recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.
“John Kerry must understand: It’s not going to happen,” said Danon, who described the proposal as “dangerous and detached from reality.”
“Israel will not split Jerusalem nor will it withdraw to the pre-1967 lines,” he added.
Danon said that "the only thing good about this plan is that the Palestinians will recognize Israel as a Jewish state. It’s about time.”
According to Friedman’s report, Kerry “expects and hopes” that both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will declare that despite their reservations about one or another element in the U.S. framework, they will use it as the basis of further negotiations.
U.S. and Israeli officials in close contact with Netanyahu “describe him as torn,” he added, “clearly understanding that some kind of two-state solution is necessary for Israel’s integrity as a Jewish democratic state, with the healthy ties to Europe and the West that are vital for Israel’s economy,” but remaining “deeply skeptical about Palestinian intentions.”