Israel presents the Palestinians with its stance on borders

[Jefferson23]

For first time, Netanyahu's envoy Isaac Molho outlines for Erekat Israel's basic principles on borders for a future Palestinian state.

By Barak Ravid

Israel presented the Palestinians with its position on borders for a future Palestinian state for the first time on Wednesday, meeting the January 26 deadline set by the Mideast Quartet in September.

Officials told Haaretz that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's envoy, Isaac Molho, presented chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat with Israel's position on borders, but did not give Erekat a document on the matter. Molho's presentation included a series of basic principles, without any maps or percentages of lands slotted to be swapped.

One of the principles that Molho presented was that in any permanent agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, most of the Israelis who live in the West Bank will remain in Israeli territory, while the Palestinians in the West Bank will be in the area allotted for a future Palestinian state.

Erekat asked Molho for clarifications on his presentation, and Molho told Erekat that he is ready to provide him with answers as soon as possible and to set an additional meeting in the next few days.

in full: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-presents-the-palestinians-with-its-stance-on-borders-1.409363

[bemildred]

1. I guesss the thumbscrews must be having some effect.

Still zippo in writing though, and that is not going to fly far.

[Violet_Crumble]

3. I suspect they'll be as vague as they can in the hopes of avoiding thumbscrew tightening...

Talking about borders without something in writing, specifically maps, just sounds like trying to do as little as possible to try to keep the powers that be happy.

[Lawlbringer]

2. Until the late 1800s

didn't both sides get along quite nicely. Wasn't it only after being fed up by their respective conditions (treatment of Jewish people in Europe and the foreign administration of the Holy Land which lead to the Zionist movement, and Arabs being sick of having their lands divided into territories and being treated like second class citizens in their own lands, and the foreign administration of the Holy Land which lead to Pan Arabism.) Everyone reached a boiling point at the same time, coming to a head after World War 2 wrapped up.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

5. Until the late 1800s, there *were* virtually no Jews in Palestine. N.T.

[King_David]

6. Ha

[Jefferson23]

4. Abbas: Israel to blame for failed peace talks in Jordan

Palestinian sources say Israel's border proposal would have prevented the establishment a Palestinian state.

By Avi Issacharoff

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for the failure of the latest round of exploratory peace talks in Amman on Saturday.

Abbas made the comments to reporters in Ramallah on Saturday after a meeting with visiting Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore. He claimed that during talks mediated by Jordan in recent weeks, Israel had presented an unclear position on security matters and on the question of borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state. Palestinian sources said Israel's border proposal would have prevented the establishment a Palestinian state.

Palestinian officials said on Friday that the Israeli delegation's proposal would in practice have created borders based on the route of Israel's security fence. They said Israel was also demanding the right to retain East Jerusalem and Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank. The Palestinian sources said this would divide Palestinian territory into cantons and deprive a future state of territorial contiguity.

The Palestinian delegation was headed by Saeb Erekat, and Israel's delegation was led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's envoy Isaac Molho.

The central committee of Abbas' Fatah party is scheduled to convene Sunday to receive a report from Abbas on the details of the Amman talks.

in full: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/abbas-israel-to-blame-for-failed-peace-talks-in-jordan-1.409719