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Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni: "It's like in a thriller, where you see the heroine open the door a crack and you know that the man with the knife is going to come in and stab her," she told Bush, regarding Israel's agreement to allow in Palestinian "refugees."
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| By Israel Insider staff August 14, 2008 |
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In an unprecedented concession, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has proposed to West Bank constable Mahmoud Abbas that Israel accept up to 2000 Palestinian "refugees" on a "humanitarian basis" of "family reunificaton" over the next ten years, according to Haaretz. The concession has outraged even members of Olmert's own Kadima faction, including party rival Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who compared it to letting a murderer in the door.
According to what the paper cited as "sources in Israel and the United States," Olmert proposed to Abbas that the "shelf agreement" the two sides are working on include an agreement for Israel to take in Palestinian refugees as part of "family unification," in which Israel would agree to absorb some 2,000 Palestinian refugees a year for 10 years, on a humanitarian basis and according to a pre-agreed formula.
Their absorption reportedly would depend on all the other issues being resolved first, and on the Palestinians agreeing that there would not be a "right of return" to Israel and that most refugees would be absorbed in the future Palestinian state.
The Palestinians reportedly have rejected Olmert's latest offer, including Israel's willingness to cede 93% of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and to compensate for the remaining 7% with land from the Negev desert in sovereign Israel.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, conducting parallel talks with the Palestinians' chief negotiator, Ahmed Qureia, firmly opposes to Israel's taking in any Palestinian refugees, even on the basis of family reunification. She Livni told U.S. President George W. Bush during his visit to Israel last January that allowing any refugees into Israel would set a dangerous precedent. "It's like in a thriller, where you see the heroine open the door a crack and you know that the man with the knife is going to come in and stab her," Livni told Bush, according to Haaretz
In her opinion, Israel must not compromise on letting in refugees, because that would be interpreted as an opening to exercising the "right of return." Livni told the American administration that if the cabinet is presented with a memorandum of understanding that includes allowing refugees into Israel, she might vote against it, throwing into doubt the approval of such a document in a cabinet vote.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, returning to the region next week, badly wants an Israeli-Palestinian agreement before Bush's tenure ends. Olmert believes an agreement is still obtainable with the exception of issues related to Jerusalem. According to political sources close to the talks, Haaretz reports, the sides have shown more flexibility in recent weeks.
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