(New York Times) Helene Cooper - For three months, White House officials have been debating whether the time has come for President Obama to make a major address on the upheaval in the Arab world, and whether he should use the occasion to propose a new plan for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. One administration official said that course was backed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the president himself, but opposed by Dennis B. Ross, the president's senior adviser on the Middle East. If Obama does put forward an American plan, officials say it could include terms of reference built around the final status issues that have bedeviled peace negotiators since 1979. It could call for Israel to accept a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. For their part, Palestinians would have to accept that they would not get the right of return to land in Israel. Jerusalem would be the capital of both states, and Israeli security would have to be protected.
2011-04-21 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive