To: Noel de Leon who wrote (98804 ) 5/22/2003 12:27:56 PM From: Nadine Carroll Read Replies (1) | Respond to Since you do not refer to a site where one can see the "true" map I take it that any refutation by the Israelis and the Americans must be taken with a grain(several tons) of salt. Yasser Arafat , for goodness sakes? You find him credible?!not happen there. In normal negotiations, each side lays out its starting position, then hammers out a compromise between them. Arafat always refused to lay out a position or make any proposal. So there were Israeli proposals, and American proposals, but no Palestinian proposals. Furthermore, the Americans and Israelis became very wary of laying out specific proposals (i.e. maps) because they learned that Arafat would take any offer in writing not as start for a counter-compromise, but as already given and a start for more demands. So the Israelis stopped making maps at some point and say that the maps the Palestinians point to, were from a much earlier point in the negotiations. I remember President Clinton describing this process when he talked about the negotiations.memri.org
