The odd couple with a peace plan
Talking about war amidst the sound of fighter planes flying above you may seem natural and even obvious if you are on the ground in that war, but this is the scene that happened this Thursday in the center of the Spanish capital. . At the Ateneo de Madrid, organized by the Elcano Royal Institute, its authors and promoters have presented a peace plan for Israel and Palestine, Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa. An odd pairing because it is unusual these days and because, as they have said, they did not know each other before discussing a possible formula for peace and the future.
At the beginning of the program, both former leaders presented themselves as tough people, in the case of Ehud Olmert this is supported by the facts, he was the right-hand man of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and then the man who launched the invasion of southern France in 2006. As Prime Minister of Lebanon in. Olmert has described how the initiative was born: “We had never seen each other, but we thought that if we could see each other, Not to continue fighting for the past, but to think of a plan for the futureMaybe someone will pay attention to us.
peace plan
The plan is ambitious and can be summarized in these points:
- stop the war Immediately release Israeli hostages and hand over Palestinian prisoners.
- Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and the formation of a new government that is linked in some way to the Palestinian National Authority.
- Acceptance of Palestinian state.
- Return to 1967 borders And, since it is unrealistic to destroy all settlements in the West Bank and the Jerusalem area, that land would be annexed to Israel and, in return, the same amount of land would be handed over to the Palestinian state.
- a runner Which physically connects Gaza with the West Bank.
- specifically end Israeli control over Jerusalem, And that old town – where the places Holy- Five countries (Israel, Palestine and three others) have a separate status.
This seems reasonable at the theoretical level, but one cannot escape the fact that putting it into practice requires will and courage that seem to be absent today. Olmer and al-Kidwa caution that they have only sketched the lines of this possible plan and not gone into details. In the details, and this is not just a cliché, that’s where the devil usually lies.
Both have emphasized that Two states are the only possible solution. “We have two choices: either we continue to kill each other or we learn to co-exist. We don’t have to love each other (between Palestinians and Israelis), for us to accept each other. It is enough to do,” said Nasse al-Kidwa. “In Israel I am tired of saying this,” Ehud Olmert reported, “when the war is over, what does total victory mean?” Hamas and Hezbollah have disappeared? very good, but We would still have 6 million Palestinians. What will we do with them? (…) The only solution is two states and this should be the absolute priority of the international community.”
Event in Madrid in the Middle East with Ehud Olmert and Nasser Al Kidwa Elcano Royal Institute
Criticism of the Netanyahu government, the Palestinian government, the European Union and the international community
This has been another consensus between the former Israeli Prime Minister and the former Palestinian Foreign Minister. Olmert is of the opinion, “The war should have stopped 8-9 months ago, as soon as significant damage was inflicted on Hamas and it was confined to Gaza,” adding that no one had expected that Israel would not respond with genocide. . , But There should be prompt and adequate response“The unnecessary deaths of Israeli soldiers, civilians and hostages could have been avoided.”
,No peace plan is possible with Netanyahu,
Al-Kidwa goes further and believes that any peace plan requires Netanyahu’s replacement: “No peace plan is possible with him.” Palestinians do not avoid self-criticism and believe that In fact the Palestinian leaders are not doing this because they have shown that they are not up to the task, And that we must bring about change in the Israeli government, the Palestinian National Authority, and Hamas or whoever rules Gaza.
Both have also criticized the attitude of the so-called international community, “long before the attacks of October 7, 2023. It should have avoided reaching that situation.” Ehud Olmert has enthusiastically requested a meeting of the EU’s 27 foreign ministers, as he has pointed out, for example, as requested by the Spanish government: “This is not the time for protocols and deliberations so as not to upset Israelis or Palestinians or any European institution. Let’s break those protocols, this is a war and we have to stop it!”,
Event in Madrid in the Middle East Elkano Royal Institute
With regard to the immediate future, the presidential elections in the United States, Israel’s main supporter and one of the main actors in the Middle East, al-Kidwa limited himself to saying: “I don’t even want to think about what would happen if Trump wins, I leave it in God’s hands.”
The future, not the past.