Arab League Offers Recognizing “Israel”, Softens Peace Plan

Arab states appeared to soften their 2002 peace plan on Monday when a top Qatari official said the Zionist and the Palestinians could trade land rather than conform exactly to their 1967 borders.

Arab states appeared to soften their 2002 peace plan on Monday when a top Qatari official said the Zionist and the Palestinians could trade land rather than conform exactly to their 1967 borders.

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatar's premier and foreign minister, made the comment after he and a group of Arab officials met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss how to promote Zionist-Palestinian peace.

Speaking on behalf of an Arab League delegation, Sheikh Hamad appeared to make a concession to the Zionist entity by explicitly raising the possibility of land swaps, although it has long been assumed that these would be part of any peace agreement.

"This news is very positive," Zionist Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told Army Radio on Tuesday.

"In the tumultuous world around ... it could allow the Palestinians to enter the room and make the needed compromises and it sends a message to the Israeli public that this is not just about us and the Palestinians," she said.

Kerry has made no secret of his hope to revive peace talks, which broke down in 2010, but it remains unclear whether U.S. President Barack Obama will decide to back a major U.S. effort.

In convening the group, Kerry is trying to ensure that a new peace process would have the backing of the Arab states.

Monday's talks included the Bahraini, Egyptian, Jordanian and Qatari foreign ministers as well as officials from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden also attended part of the meeting.

The Arab League proposal offered full Arab recognition of the Zionist entity if it gave up land seized in a 1967 war and accepted a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.

Rejected by the usurping entity when it was originally proposed at a Beirut summit in 2002, the plan has major obstacles to overcome.

The Zionist government objects to key points, including a return to 1967 borders, the inclusion of Arab East Jerusalem in a Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees to what is called now “Israel.”

The core issues that need to be settled in the more than six-decade dispute include borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees, the future of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and the status of Jerusalem.

Zionist entity was declared a state in 1948 over occupied Palestinian lands.