Until things literally blew up with the Gaza war and Israel's recent electoral campaign, we at Meretz USA were hearing for a long time -- even from Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat -- that a peace deal between the Palestinian Authority and Ehud Olmert's government was in the works. A report in New York's Jewish Week newspaper suggests what happened: it was Mahmoud Abbas who may have left a deal on the table. What follows is part of this article:
Stephen Cohen, a national scholar of the Israel Policy Forum who recently met with Palestinian officials, said "this is a very active time" in terms of discussions about how to move the peace process forward.
He pointed out that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was not responsive to Ehud Olmert’s offer of more than 93 percent of Palestinian territories, in negotiations last year, in part because Fatah "hadn’t resolved internal problems" with Hamas. ...
Olmert had proposed placing Jerusalem’s Holy Basin — the areas containing the Old City and surrounding holy sites — under Divine sovereignty and having it administered by a consortium of Saudis, Jordanians, Americans, Israelis and Palestinians.
In addition, he proposed offering the Palestinians 93.5 to 93.7 percent of the Palestinian territories, along with a land swap of 5.8 percent and safe passage between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. And the Palestinian refugee issue would be resolved by permitting a small number of Palestinians into Israel as a "humanitarian gesture."
After Olmert revealed his offer last month, Livni said through a spokesman that she disapproved of the offer. ...
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