Israeli plan has Jerusalem 'the home of two capitals'

From Ma'an News Agency: 

TEL AVIV (Ma'an) -- The son of slain former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin has proposed a peace plan, under which Jerusalem would be the capital of both an Israeli and Palestinian state, Israel's daily Haaretz reported Saturday.

According to the report, Yuval Rabin and Israeli businessman Koby Huberman have put together a response to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, coined the Israeli Peace Initiative, which would recognize a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, but maintain Jerusalem as a dual capital.

The plan urges the Israeli leadership to say yes to peace, and to adopt the alternative plan rather than haggle in the ongoing mediated talks sponsored by the United States. Talks collapsed on 26 September when a temporary settlement construction freeze affecting West Bank colonies ended, leading to mass waves of new building on Palestinian lands.

The Israeli newspaper outlined the plan, which included 1:1 land swaps for areas of settlements Israel refused to hand back to Palestinians, "special arrangements" for Jerusalem which would act as the capital of both states, an "agreed solution for the refugees inside the Palestinian state (with symbolic exceptions)," mutual recognition of national identities, "Reiteration of the principles underlying Israel's 1948 declaration of independence regarding civic equality for its Arab citizens," and long-term security arrangements that included intervention from international forces.

Rabin and Huberman's plan also includes a phased withdrawal from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and its return to Syria along the 1967 border, also with 1:1 land swaps and international security arrangements, while a gradual recognition of Lebanon and solidification of borders there would quell tension on the northeastern border.

"Fifteen years after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, we hope to see brave regional and international leaders translate the API and IPI visions into practical and synchronized progress," the planners wrote in an article about the initiative.

Source: https://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336292