US proposal for security arrangements outrages Palestinians

The security arrangements with Israel, which were recently proposed to the Palestinian side by U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry, are outraging the Palestinians, a senior Palestinian official said Monday. Yasser Abed Rabbo, an official of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) told the Ramallah-based "Voice of Palestine" Radio that these security proposals to the Palestinian and Israeli peace negotiators "had certainly created a real impasse." During his three-day visit to the region which ended on Friday, Kerry presented to the two sides a proposal that contained certain security arrangements aiming at pushing forward the stalled peace talks. According to Israeli media reports, Kerry proposed to the two sides establishing joint Israeli-Palestinian crossing points in the area of the Jordan Valley, and give the Israeli army full control of the entire borders between Jordan and the Palestinian territories. Abed Rabbo and other Palestinian officials considered Kerry's security proposals "a one-sided U.S. stance to Israel and a response to the Israeli demands at the expense of the Palestinian efforts to gain and establish their future independent state." The Palestinians refuse any military presence in the area of the Jordan Valley, west of the Jordan River, which is widely considered as the territories of the future Palestinian state. Kerry's ideas coincided with U.S. President Barack Obama's remarks that he backs reaching transitional peace agreements between the two sides. "But the Palestinians want a permanent peace agreement that leads to the establishment of a sovereign state," said Abed Rabbo. Meanwhile, Nabil Abu Rdineh, an aid to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had earlier stated that the Palestinians reject the postponement of the release of another group of Palestinian prisoners from the Israeli jails, who were arrested before signing Oslo transitional peace accords in 1993. In August and October, Israel released 52 prisoners out of 104 prisoners Israel and the Palestinians agreed upon in order to resume the direct peace talks. These developments occurred as Kerry stated at the end of his three-day visit to the region that the two sides, Israel and the Palestinians, are close to reaching a peace agreement more than anytime before.