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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert talking to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (photo: flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff August 23, 2007 |
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As the PA and Israel continue to hash out details for future agreements, Israel has reportedly proposed that a passageway from Gaza to the West Bank be included in a territorial exchange within the agreement of principles, according to Haaretz.
The route would be operational only after the PA, under its current leadership, regains control over the Gaza Strip, which it lost after Hamas' bloody coup in June.
However Abbas denied that any such agreement took place in the negotiations.
"There is no secret channel and what was published about scenarios and expectations in some Israeli media is not true," said a statement from Abbas' office.
It said Abbas has made his views clear in meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and repeated to the media. "These talks have not reached a level of negotiations with details, as what was reported in Israeli newspapers."
The proposal is another step towards reaching preliminary deals with the Palestinians before the US-sponsored Mideast peace conference this fall. US President George W. Bush's administration views the agreement of principles' success as crucial to the effectiveness of the upcoming conference.
Tentatively, the Palestinians would receive 92 percent of the West Bank, the final area larger than the territory east of the fence.
As for Jerusalem, a government official said Israel would transfer to the PA several neighborhoods and refugee camps outside the fence. Later on, it would cede most or all of the remaining Arab neighborhoods.
The land agreements are in line with Clinton's plan, in which Arab areas will be given to the Arabs, and Jewish areas, to the Jews. According to the plan, representatives from the three religions would administer religious sites in the Old City, each responsible for his own sites.
Another divisive topic is refugees, for which Israel said it is ready to claim indirect responsibility and whose suffering the Jewish state will recognize. Israel would take part in international projects to rehabilitate refugees both in the PA and abroad. According to the Arab Peace Initiative, a solution to the refugee problem is prerequisite for peace.
The Israelis and Americans are hoping that the agreements will help secure PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' standing in the West Bank, and win him support in Gaza as well. However regional analysts do not have high hopes for the future of Abbas' government.
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