Israel has no choice but to welcome, either warmly or tepidly, the Arab League's endorsement of mutually agreed upon land swaps as part of a peace agreement. U.S. Secretary John Kerry had likely hinted to the Qatari prime minister that he should come to Washington with an innovative idea to jump-start Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. If that hint was indeed made, it seems Qatar's leader got the message, partly due to his desire for the U.S. to thwart Iran's nuclear plans. Not much is actually new here. The Palestinian Authority already agreed to land swaps (although only up to two percent of Judea and Samaria) during talks with then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The Palestinians later ran away from the negotiating table. The Arab League's support for land swaps only adds a small element to a situation that hasn't changed since 2009. Israeli government officials who have expressed support for the idea of "two states for two peoples" would be suspected of bad faith if they were to come out against the Arab League's new position. But bottom line: What is this all about? Ultimately, there should be a Jewish state (Israel) and an Arab state (Palestine). But the Palestinians obstinately refuse to accept this. If the Arab League's step leads to a renewal of talks (based on the common assumption that talks are better than the alternatives of violence or continued stalemate), Kerry, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Israeli envoy Yitzhak Molcho and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat will have matters to discuss, even if they know the negotiations won't go anywhere. It's clear that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas can't reach a comprehensive peace agreement. They might, perhaps, be able to come to a partial, interim agreement, but neither wants to be the first to say so to the other. Discussions about real or imagined flexibility, like the Qatari prime minister's statement, are helpful, while the renewal of terror, as seen at Tapuach Junction on Tuesday, is harmful. Livni and Molcho are travelling to the U.S. next week. It seems to me that, as part of a positive response to the Arab League, they should ask Abbas, via Kerry, how much of Judea and Samaria he is willing to swap. It is fundamentally important that Abbas give a direct answer to this question.
