World | Wed Mar 9, 2016 6:23pm EST

U.S. hopes to preserve two-state outcome for Israel, Palestinians

WASHINGTON | BY ARSHAD MOHAMMED AND MATT SPETALNICK

Having twice failed to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace, the Obama administration is discussing ways to help preserve the prospect of an increasingly threatened two-state solution, U.S. officials said.

One possibility under discussion is to issue an outline of a deal to end the nearly 70-year-old conflict on such matters as borders, security, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Such an outline could range from a brief description of core tradeoffs the two sides might need to make to a detailed set of "parameters" like those that former U.S. President Bill Clinton laid out for the parties in late 2000.

Under one scenario, the outline could be enshrined in a U.N. Security Council resolution to give it greater international standing for a future U.S. president or the parties whenever they might resume peace talks that collapsed in April 2014.

"It's one of the ideas that they are talking about," said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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