RAMALLAH, West Bank, 18 November 2007 — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed in a closed meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to allow 20,000 Palestinian refugees to return back into Israel in exchange for ending Palestinian intifada, a report said yesterday.
The Palestinian independent news agency Ma’an cited Israeli sources as saying that the implementation of this offer will be part of a two-state solution and will remain at abeyance until the Palestinian Authority becomes more powerful. The report did not say what was the criterion used to arrive at the 20,000 figure or whether the remainder of the Palestinians and their descendants displaced by the creation of the state of Israel would be monetarily compensated.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will not return to the Palestinian territories and Israel before the US-sponsored Mideast peace conference at the end of the month in Annapolis, Maryland, Voice of Israel Radio reported yesterday. Rice visited Israel and the West Bank three times in the past two months to help two sides bridge differences over a joint declaration ahead of the conference.
Israel Radio quoted White House spokesman Sean McCormack as saying that Rice will continue consulting with Olmert and Abbas over telephone. McCormack also confirmed US President George W. Bush’s attendance at the conference. Its exact date has not been officially announced.
An Israeli government source told the radio that Rice’s decision was a good sign as it showed that talks were making good progress and the sides did not need prodding. A Palestinian source, however, told the radio that Rice’s visit would not make a difference as she cannot solve problems in negotiations.
Separately, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement: “The Palestinian and Israeli negotiation teams will conduct intensive rounds of negotiations this week in a bid to hammer out a joint declaration outlining a solution to core issues: borders, status of Jerusalem, refugees, and water before Annapolis conference.”
He said meetings with Israelis would resume despite all obstacles and complications faced by the Palestinian side.
During a meeting with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah on Friday, Abbas expressed his pessimism over the chances for success of the Annapolis conference and his dissatisfaction with Israel over its unwillingness to achieve the minimum level of what is acceptable by Palestinians, Jamal Al-Shobaki, Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said yesterday.
The Israeli official team that returned from the United States on Friday said that both Washington and Riyadh were pressing Israel to free far more than the 400 Palestinian prisoners that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has announced he plans to release as a goodwill gesture to Abbas ahead of Annapolis. There are more than 11,000 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. According to Israeli security sources, the releases would be depend on a cessation of attacks and a commitment by the freed prisoners not to return to attacks against Israeli targets.
