Palestine/Israeli update 8/08/2018..RED-ALERT SIRENS BLARE IN THE SOUTH

RED-ALERT SIRENS BLARE IN THE SOUTH

New Fighting Between Israel and Gaza

Palestinians bury Hamas fighters killed by Israel in Gaza

U.S. Official: Trump’s Peace Plan Will Cause Discomfort to Both Israel and Palestinians 

Officials say plan to ‘go beyond broad parameters’ and delve into pragmatic issues Sources outside the administration say Trump’s team thinks plan could be first to be endorsed by both Israel, Arab states

The Trump administration’s peace plan will cause discomfort both in Israel and on the Palestinian side, U.S. officials told Haaretz.

“When reading through the plan, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) will be unhappy on some pages and happy on others just as Israelis will be pleased with some pages and uncomfortable on others,” one senior administration official explained.

The official added that the plan will “go beyond broad parameters that in the past didn’t actually solve the problem,” hinting at peace plans offered by previous administrations that mostly focused on formulas for resolving the “core issues” of the conflict, such as borders, Jerusalem and security.

The Trump peace team wants the plan to deal with those issues, but also to offer a wide range of pragmatic ideas that will, in the words of the senior official,” make lives better on both sides.”

A large part of the plan will focus on strengthening the Palestinian economy and its ties to Israel.

A number of sources outside the administration who spoke with Haaretz in recent weeks said that the White House is currently polishing a document which is dozens of pages long, “much longer than some previous plans of this kind,” according to one diplomatic source involved in the discussions.

A senior administration official refused to confirm the length of the document, but said that the plan is “fairly detailed and lengthy.”

The official added that “we need to explain to both sides a realistic way to resolve the conflict, not just to debate unhelpful, calcified talking points.”

The administration’s peace plan has been under work since mid-2017, when Jason Greeenblatt, Trump’s special envoy for the peace process, made his first trip to the region.

Sources who have been in contact with Greenblatt over this period told Haaretz that his main takeaway from the first trip was the close alignment of interests between Israel and the Arab world, which in his view presented a rare opportunity for a breakthrough in the negotiations.

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