DHAKA: The United States has proposed to the Israeli government a security plan for new borders with a future Palestinian state that games out an exhaustive list of possible threats.

US state secretary John Kerry told the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post publishes this report on Sunday.

Overseen by US retired general John Allen, the plan ‘guarantees’ that the Jordan River will remain secure for years after any deal is signed, Kerry said.

‘We approach this challenge believing that Israel has to be strong to make peace,’ Kerry said, ‘but that peace will make Israel stronger’.

In a passionate speech, Kerry spoke to a crowd that included the top echelons of the Israeli and American diplomatic corps.

US special envoy to the Middle East Martin Indyk and his team were in the audience, as well as Israel’s ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, his staff and his predecessor, Michael Oren; Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert; justice minister Tzipi Livni and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, among others.

The secretary said that the first half of a committed nine-month process, with the goal of achieving a final-status agreement by this spring, has been committed to ‘groundwork’ preparations.

Waiting for a final accord ‘leaves things to mischief’, history tells us, Kerry charged.

‘Unilateral is not the answer. You’ve got to resolve the fundamentals of this conflict.’

BDST: 1427 HRS, DEC 08, 2013