Israel Framework for the Peace-Making Process between Israel and its Neighbors

(19 July 1977)

Presented to President Jimmy Carter by Menachem Begin, July 19, 1977, Washington, DC. Israel’s State Archives, File A 4313/1. Note: the document is dated 7 July 1977.

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1. The Government of Israel will be prepared to participate, beginning 10, 1977, in a new additional session of the Geneva Peace Conference to be convened by the two co-chairmen on the basis of Paragraph 3 of Security Council Resolution 338 of 21 October 1973 which states:  (The Security Council) “Decides that, immediately and concurrently with the cease-fire, negotiations start between the parties concerned under appropriate auspices aimed at establishing a just and durable peace in the Middle East.”

2. Resolution 338 includes and makes reference to Security Council Resolution 242 of November 22, 1967.

3. Accredited delegations of sovereign states will participate in the reconvened session of the Geneva Peace Conference, namely:  the representatives of Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

4. The participating states in the Geneva Peace Conference will present no prior conditions for their taking part in the Conference.

5. At the public session of the reconvened Geneva Peace Conference the representatives will make opening statements.

6. At the conclusion of the public session three mixed commissions will be established, namely:  Egyptian-Israeli; Syrian-Israeli; Jordanian-Israeli.

7. In the framework of these mixed commissions, peace treaties between the parties concerned will be negotiated and concluded.

8. The chairmanship of each mixed commission will be fixed by the rule of rotation between an Israeli representative and a representative of the neighboring state.

9. Having reached agreement on the substance of the peace treaties – i.e. the termination of the state of war; the determination of permanent boundaries; diplomatic relations; the economic clauses, etc.: – a public session of the Conference will again be convened for the purpose of signing the treaties.

THE ALTERNATIVE

(Two Possibilities)

In the event that the states bordering on Israel refuse to participate in the Geneva Peace Conference in accordance with the established framework determined by the precedent of the first session of the Conference on grounds of insistence that the organization called PLO be added to the sovereign state delegations, it is proposed:

To establish through the good offices of the United States the aforementioned three mixed commissions in keeping with the method used during the Rhodes negotiations of 1949;

Or:  In accordance with the principle of “proximity talks,” with a view to conducting in the framework of such mixed commissions the negotiations on the conclusion of peace treaties.

Because of the vastness of the territory, we will be prepared, in the context of a peace treaty and the determination of the permanent boundary between Israel and Egypt, for a substantial withdrawal of our forces in Sinai.

We shall stay on the Golan Heights and be prepared for a withdrawal of our forces from the existing line in the context of a peace treaty and the determination of the permanent boundary between Syria and Israel.

Concerning Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, our position is that we shall not place them under foreign rule or sovereignty on the basis of two factors:

One, our people’s right to the Land; it is our Land as of right.

Two, our national security, which concerns the defensive capability of the State and the lives of our civilian population.