The Olmert–al-Kidwa proposal

The challenge

In July 2024 the war in Gaza that followed the Hamas-led brutal terrorist attack of 7 October 2023 was still being fought, and there were no political negotiations. On 18 July 2024, one day after the outline was signed, the Knesset approved by 68 votes to 9 a resolution opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state¹.

Both authors knew the issues at first hand. In 2008 Olmert presented a proposal and a map to Mahmoud Abbas in the talks that followed the Annapolis conference²; al-Kidwa served as Palestinian foreign minister in 2005–2006³.

The road there

1. 2008Ehud Olmert, then prime minister, presents a proposal and a map to Mahmoud Abbas; the talks end without an agreement².
2. 17 July 2024Olmert and Nasser al-Kidwa sign the joint outline⁴.
3. September 2024The text of the proposal is published in the media, including the magazine Al Majalla⁵.
4. 17 October 2024The two present the proposal to Pope Francis at the Vatican³.

The people

Proposed

Ehud Olmert · Nasser al-Kidwa

What was proposed

• In Gaza: a ceasefire, the release of the Israeli hostages and of an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners, and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Strip⁴.
• Running the Strip after the war: a Council of Commissioners made up of professionals, not political representatives, to administer and rebuild Gaza, linked to the Palestinian Authority. General elections in the West Bank and the Strip within 24 to 36 months⁶⁴.
• A temporary Arab security presence in the Strip, coordinated with the Israeli withdrawal, tasked with preventing attacks on Israel; a donors' conference to rebuild the Strip⁶.
• Two states based on the 1967 lines: Israel would annex 4.4% of the West Bank, in areas to be agreed, and transfer territory of equal size to the Palestinians. The swap includes a corridor between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank⁶³.
• Jerusalem as the capital of both states: Jewish neighbourhoods to Israel, Arab neighbourhoods to Palestine. The Old City would be administered by a trusteeship of five states, among them Israel and Palestine, and no state would have exclusive sovereignty there⁶⁵.
• The Palestinian state would be non-militarised, apart from an internal police and security force⁶.

Read the document

The geography

The hard decisions

• The main barrier: Olmert and al-Kidwa are former office-holders³. They have no mandate to negotiate for the Government of Israel or for the PLO.
• The outline leaves core issues to official negotiations: the status of settlements and settlers, the refugees, and further security arrangements⁶.
• Criticism (Hussein Solomon, University of the Free State, in the SA Jewish Report): details are missing on the land swap and on the make-up of the Arab force, and it is unclear whether the Palestinian Authority could play the role the proposal gives it⁷.
• Criticism (the researcher Glen Segell, in the same report): the authors repeat earlier proposals without dealing with the obstacles that stopped them, and Israel's security establishment would reject some of the provisions⁷.
• Criticism (the journalist Rolene Marks, in the same report): in her view Israelis would not accept the division of Jerusalem, and the Israeli public was at the time focused on the hostages and the war against Hamas, not on Palestinian statehood⁷.
• The Catholic Review also noted that the proposal has strong critics among both Israelis and Palestinians, without giving details³.

Where accounts differ

According to The authors of the proposal

A way to end the war in Gaza and a two-state horizon can be put forward at the same time. According to al-Kidwa, linking the administration of the Strip to the Palestinian Authority is meant to preserve the unity of the territory and of the Palestinian people⁴.

According to Critics interviewed by the SA Jewish Report

The proposal does not match the mood of the Israeli public and is not workable in the near term⁷.

What remains open

• The outline does not name the three other states that would take part in the trusteeship over the Old City; it recognises the special historic role of the King of Jordan⁶.
• No text published by the authors themselves was located. The description here rests on the text published by Al Majalla and on the website The Third Narrative⁵⁶.
• The Gaza ceasefire of October 2025 was reached by a different route, the US plan; see the Gaza ceasefire.