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Rice points, Olmert obeys. (file photo)
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| By Israel Insider staff May 6, 2008 |
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Neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis are pleased that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, here to push negotiations in advance of President George Bush's visit to the region next week, has demanded that the parties reach a memorandum of understanding on final borders.
The demand would seem to border on absurdity as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert teeters on the edge of what is expected to be the most calamitous criminal investigation yet, one which many believe will lead to his departure from office in the near future.
Israeli offering a map that includes settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria and around Jerusalem while the Palestinian negotiators continue to insist on a total withdrawal to the 1949 Armistice line, with only minor and reciprocal land swaps.
According to a government source cited by Haaretz, Rice wants a formal document to make it clear to the international community that negotiations are progressing.
Olmert and PA President Mahmoud Abbas held another meeting Monday, following which a government source crowed that "there has been great progress on the issue of the borders of the Palestinian state" as well as security arrangements.
Despite the optimistic reports of "significant progress" earlier in the day, the subsequent recriminations suggest that the Israelis and Palestinians remain far apart on the border issues, with the
Rice told Israeli officials that even though both sides had reported progress, "the world doesn't believe it." The fact that no concrete document has yet emerged from the negotiations, combined with the lack of dramatic progress in improving the daily lives of Palestinian residents of the West Bank, encourages disbelief, she argued, and this is liable to undermine the process.
She therefore suggested that the parties craft a memorandum of understanding that would outline the general principles to which they have agreed - especially on the issue of borders.
However, both the Israeli and Palestinian officials with whom she met expressed reservations about the idea. "The work of drafting such a document will merely halt the progress and the momentum," one Israeli official complained. "Instead of negotiating, we will start dealing with commas and periods in the draft and try to steal corners from each other," another said.
Haaretz, citing government officials, claims that the main progress has been on the issue of borders -- the fate of the settlement blocs, territorial exchanges and the "safe passage" between the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Jerusalem has not yet been seriously discussed, and on the refugees, both sides have merely presented their initial -- and highly divergent -- stances.
According to these sources, Israel initially expressed a willingness to cede 90 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians, while the PA demanded at least 98 percent. Israel wants to retain the major settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley, but the PA rejects these demands. Palestinian sources said they saw no chance of resolving these disputes in the 10 days remaining before Bush's visit.
Israeli officials who met with Rice said she seems determined to produce an achievement at almost any price, given the political capital that both she and Bush have invested in the issue over the last year.
Rice expressed grave concern over the latest police investigation against Olmert, fearing that it would negatively affect the negotiations and prevent Olmert from moving forward with the talks, even if he were to be exonerated.
In a stunning contrast to the upbeat reports from Haaretz, Khaled Abu Toameh of the Jerusalem Post quoted Palestinian Authority officials as saying Monday that Israel was offering the Palestinians nothing more than a "mini-state of cantons" in parts of the West Bank.
The officials told The Jerusalem Post that Israel's proposals were "completely unacceptable" and "provocative." They also claimed that the US Administration was supporting the Israeli position. Today it's clear to us that Israel has no intention of withdrawing from all the territories that were occupied in 1967," said one official. "If the Israelis and Americans think that they will ever find a Palestinian leader who would accept less than the 1967 borders, they are living under an illusion."
Another top PA official said that maps presented to the Palestinians showed that Israel is planning to retain control over nearly half of the West Bank and large parts of east Jerusalem. The Israeli maps, he said, "turn the Palestinian communities in the West Bank into cantons surrounded by Israeli military bases and large settlement blocks."
The official added: "We have made it clear to both the Israelis and Americans that they should throw away these maps. No Palestinian will ever agree to the presence of settlements or Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. This is in violation of [US President George W.] Bush's vision of two states living next to each other in peace."
Palestinian officials said they were surprised to hear reports in the Israeli media about certain progress that was ostensibly achieved during Monday's summit between Abbas and Olmert.
"Apparently Olmert's office is spreading these rumors to divert attention from the problems he's facing at home," the officials said, referring to the latest police probe against the Prime Minister.
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