GAZA CITY: Israel has offered a peace deal to the Palestinians under which it would annex 7.3 percent of the West Bank and keep the largest settlements. In compensation, the Palestinians would be given land equivalent to 5.4 percent of the West Bank in the Negev Desert but it is not specified where.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has presented Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with the proposal for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, to take place after Abbas’ forces have retaken Gaza, as part of an agreement in principle on borders, refugees and security arrangements between Israel and a future Palestinian state, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
The centerpiece of Olmert’s detailed proposal is the suggested permanent border based on an Israeli withdrawal from 93 percent of the West Bank as in return the Palestinian would receive alternative land in southern Israel adjacent to the Gaza Strip. In addition, the Palestinians would also enjoy free passage between Gaza and the West Bank without any security checks, the proposal says.
But the proposal does not include a detailed plan for the status of Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital. The plan also denies Palestinian refugees the right of return to their homes in what is now Israel.
Abbas rejected the proposal because it did not provide for a contiguous Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, the Palestinian president’s office said.
Nabil Abu Rudainah, Abbas’ spokesman, told the official WAFA news agency that Olmert’s plan showed a “lack of seriousness.”
“The Israeli proposal is not acceptable,” Abu Rudainah said. “The Palestinian side will only accept a Palestinian state with territorial continuity, with holy Jerusalem as its capital, without settlements, and with the June 4, 1967 boundaries.”
Abu Rudainah was referring to the borders that existed prior to the 1967 Middle East War in which Israel seized Arab East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and West Bank. He called the Israeli proposal a “waste of time.”
Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman for Hamas, said Olmert’s offer was meant to keep the Palestinian Authority (PA) engaged perpetually in fighting the Palestinian people. “Linking this offer with retrieving Gaza also means additional security obligations and commitment on the part of the PA,” he added.
Hamas vowed it would not give up control of the Gaza Strip without settling all outstanding issues with Abbas through dialogue.
Olmert’s spokesman Mark Regev did not confirm the proposal but said Israel and the Palestinians were making progress in the peace talks, including on the border issue.
Olmert’s proposal introduces a new stage in the arrangement: Israel would immediately receive the settlement blocs, but the land to be transferred to the Palestinians and the free passage between Gaza and the West Bank would only be delivered after the PA retakes control of the Gaza Strip.
