SOUTHERN SHUNEH, Jordan - Israel’s president on Sunday urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to overcome differences and resume peace negotiations, saying the sides could not afford “to lose this opportunity.”
President Shimon Peres issued his call ahead of a gathering of Mideast leaders on the sidelines of a conference hosted by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan.
Sunday’s conference included a rare face-to-face meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, with the participation of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who has devoted much of the past two months to restarting long-stalled peace talks.
“We shouldn’t lose the opportunity because it will be replaced by a great disappointment,” Peres told reporters in Jordan. “For my experience, I believe it’s possible to overcome it. It doesn’t require too much time.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed.
“Enough is enough. A lot of our young people have started to lose confidence in the two-state solution,” he said to loud applause from an audience of more than 1,000 business and government leaders from 23 countries.
He blamed the growing mistrust on Israeli moves, especially construction in West Bank settlements and detention of hundreds of Palestinians.
Abbas reiterated his rejection of partial solutions. “We will neither accept interim solutions, nor a state with temporary borders or a peace based on economic perks without progress on the political track,” he said.
At one point in the closing session, Kerry joked with Abbas and Peres - who exchanged hugs, kisses, handshakes and emotional speeches - telling both from the podium that he had an “agreement you can come up and sign.”
Abbas peeked at Peres, pointing to the podium. Then both laughed.
Palestinian-Israeli peace talks broke down nearly five years ago, in large part because of disagreements over Israeli settlement construction on occupied territories claimed by the Palestinians. The Palestinians say there is no point in negotiating while Israel continues to build Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which they say undermines their quest to set up an independent state. The Palestinians want both areas, captured by Israel in 1967, as parts of their state.
On his fourth visit to the Middle East since taking office in February, Kerry held talks with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week. He said during his latest regional swing that both sides must make hard decisions to move toward direct negotiations.
Peres, who won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for helping forge an interim deal with the Palestinians, sounded upbeat and determined to help in peacemaking with Palestinians.
“It is time for peace,” he said. “I believe this is an important opportunity to [ engage], not to waste time, return to negotiations and complete the negotiations with the Palestinians.”
He said a peace agreement must be “based on a two-state solution: an Israeli state, a Palestinian state living as good neighbors cooperating economically and bringing a message to the young generation.”
For decades an ardent supporter of peace with the Palestinians, Peres holds a ceremonial role in Israel, and his views are highly respected in Israeli society. Netanyahu, who has most decision-making powers, holds more hawkish positions than Peres and has given few signs of how he sees a final peace deal with the Palestinians.
While Netanyahu has endorsed the concept of a two-state solution, the Palestinians accuse him of undermining that goal through his actions. In particular, they object to continued settlement construction and Netanyahu’s refusal to endorse Israel’s pre-1967 lines as the basis for a future border.
Netanyahu has called for resumption of peace talks without preconditions, saying all those issues would be on the table.
Israeli media reported that Peres discussed with Netanyahu some key issues he was expected to raise at Sunday’s forum.
Earlier Sunday, a group of Israeli and Palestinian businessmen at the conference unveiled a plan to push their leaders to begin serious peace negotiations.
“We’re using our collective business experience and influence to convince leaders on both sides that peace is a must,” said Palestinian business tycoon Munib Masri.
Masri said he was leading the initiative, called “breaking the impasse,” along with Israeli high-tech guru Yossi Vardi. He said they would lobby both sides to make peace.
Also Sunday, Kerry said he believes a potential $4 billion plan is emerging that could expand the Palestinian economy by up to 50 percent in the next three years.
It could also cut unemployment by almost two-thirds, and average wages could jump 40 percent, he said. But Kerry said it all depends on parallel progress on peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Kerry has been working with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and global business leaders to devise economic plans to revitalize the Palestinian economy. He offered few specific details and acknowledged that his vision might easily be taken as fantasy in a part of the world that has suffered through decades of conflict, and where peace prospects remain dim.
“We know it can be done,” he insisted. “This is a plan for the Palestinian economy that is bigger, bolder and more ambitious than anything proposed” in the past two decades.
Among his hopes, Kerry predicted:
Palestinian agriculture production could double or triple.
Tourism could triple.
100,000 new homes, many of them energy efficient, could be built in the next three years.
He said he has been coordinating with leading business experts around the world and that the plan would explore new opportunities in tourism, construction, light manufacturing, agriculture, energy and communications.
Kerry acknowledged that barriers to commerce would have to be removed to spur economic growth. The Palestinians have long complained about limitations on movement and investment that have hampered their economic potential.
Information for this article was contributed by Jamal Halaby and Bradley Klapper of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 05/27/2013