US set to announce new peace plan early next year

TheUS is planning to announce a new peace plan for the Middle East,particularly between Israelis and Palestinians, early next year, ActingAssistant Secretary for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs DavidSatterfield has said.“We hope to move forward with that (peace)initiative at a point in the new year. I underscore that as to thedetails of the plan, that will await its roll out, we are not preparedto announce those details at this time,” he said. The US governmentofficial was speaking in  a telephonic press briefing yesterday on USPresident Donald Trump’s recent announcement, recognising Jerusalem asthe capital of Israel. Satterfield pointed out that part of thepeace plan was to help create a process where the region, Israelis andPalestinians in specific, can look to a better future – not arced byconflict, isolation and exclusion, but instead “working with sharedhopes and objectives against common problems”.Satterfield said thepresident tried to clarify that this was “a recognition of a simplereality” and not a resolution of a negotiating process.Quoting fromthe US president’s announcement, he said: “Jerusalem, without a specificdefinition of boundaries, or geographic borders, is the capital of thestate of Israel; there must be final status negotiations between Israeland the Palestinians, direct negotiations, to resolve all of thosespecific aspects , all of the questions which have been  raised over thecourse of the last years.”The Trump administration, he said, iscommitted to moving forward on a peace process, which it hopes offersthe region (Middle East) a chance to move from the decades (or years) ofconflicts in the past to a better future to realise the aspirations ofboth Israelis and Palestinians.“The reality is this, I think it iswell understood by all parties, that the only path forward to peace inthe Middle East, the peace between Israelis and the Palestinians, isdirect negotiations between these two parties under the supervision andwith assistance of the US,” Satterfield stressed.According to him,the president and the secretary of state, along with other senior USforeign officials, have discussed last week about US’ role in advancingMiddle East peace.Trump has abruptly reversed decades of US policyrecently and recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, generatingworldwide outrage, particularly from Palestinians and Muslim countries.Satterfieldsaid the Trump administration is hoping that the leaders of the Arabworld, and world leaders in general, understand what the presidentuttered, stressing that “the words were very carefully chosen.”“Ourhope always is that dialogue, exchange, inclusion not rejection, notexclusion, not isolation or the past taken by all in this process,” hesaid.Satterfield reiterated “the president is committed with hispeace team to doing everything in our power to move forward at a time inthe new year a peace process, a peace initiative which can move theregion forward”.“We hope that the actions for words used by leadersnow and in the days ahead support that initiative and not make it morecomplex, more difficult,” he added.Asked if it is possible for Trumpto reverse his decision, Satterfield said: “The answer is No. Thepresident’s decision stands, it is what the president believes was theright step at the right moment, it is a US policy. I don’t have anycomments on calls for reversal, except to say that is obviouslysomething we won’t be doing.”Satterfield noted that the president has been studying this issue since he took office.Healso confirmed that the President has instructed the secretary of stateto begin the planning for the move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv toJerusalem. But he said any such move would take years to materialise.