Report: US, Arab partners preparing timeline for Palestinian state, announcement could come in weeks

The US and several Arab partners are preparing a detailed plan for a comprehensive peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians that includes a “firm timeline” for a Palestinian state, the Washington Post reports, saying the announcement could come in the next few weeks.

The report, citing US and Arab officials, says that the key to the plan and its announcement would be the reaching of an initial ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, during which hostages would be released, ideally before the start of Ramadan next month. During this pause, projected to be at least six weeks, the US plans to make the report public, take initial steps towards its implementation, including forming an interim Palestinian government, and try drumming up further support for the move.

However, the report says it is unclear if Israel will go along with such a move.

The proposed plan includes steps that Israel has previously refused and are highly unlikely to be approved by the current hard-right government, including the evacuation of many West Bank settlements, a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem and combined security and governments for the West Bank and Gaza.

The report says that those involved in the plan hope that Israel can be persuaded by security guarantees and normalization with Arab states like Saudi Arabia.

It says the countries involved aim to discuss their ideas with European and other leaders at Friday’s Munich Security Conference.