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Umm al-Fahm, the only Arab-Israeli community with the status of "city" (file)
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| By Israel Insider staff August 26, 2007 |
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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday rejected a proposal to exchange Israeli-Arab populated territory for settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria ("the West Bank") within the framework of a peace deal between Israel and the PA, according to Haaretz.
At a meeting with Hadash Chairman MK Mohammad Barakeh, Abbas voiced his objection to a final status accord under which areas in Israel containing Arab Israelis would become part of a future Palestinian state's territory.
MK Barakeh praised Abbas' remarks and said: "Israeli Arab citizens are not Israeli real estate to be negotiated over in order to validate the evils of the occupation."
Last week the paper ran an article outlining a proposal formulated by President Shimon Peres when he was still vice premier. Peres suggested transferring to the future Palestinian state areas equivalent to 100 percent of the territories Israel won in the 1967 war.
Yisrael Beitaynu MK Avigdor Lieberman has championed the land-exchange proposal, which states that the exchange would be contingent upon the consent of the Israeli-Arab residents. It is uncertain whether Lieberman would endorse a peace agreement in which the land exchange is omitted, decreasing the chances that the agreement would be approved.
The general consensus among Israelis who support a two-state solution is that Israel should retain firmly-established Israeli areas in Judea and Samaria. Therefore a bill proposing that the state give the PA 100 percent of Judea and Samaria would unlikely gain enough support.
However Peres remained hopeful that the details of a peace agreement would be reached before the US-backed peace summit this fall.
"I think we have a good chance now because the whole world is supporting (Palestinian president Mahmoud) Abbas," he told Ynet on Saturday.
"To work out the details (of the political if not the geographical outline of a future Palestinian state) will take more time, but (as for) principles, yes, we can achieve an agreement" before the autumn peace conference, he said.
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