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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (192572)	7/21/2006 7:30:50 PM
From: Noel de Leon	Respond to of 281500

Clinton & Ross & Barak & Ben-Ami never published the documents, only made claims as to their content. Claiming that the final offer was such and such without documentation just doesn't work. If you have documentation OK, lets see it.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (192572)	7/21/2006 9:18:40 PM
From: Noel de Leon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

mideastweb.org "Pro-Palestinian analysts claim that Barak proposed a Palestinian state of "Bantustans," enclaves separated by zones of Israeli control and large areas of temporary Israeli sovereignty. Pro-Israel analysts claim that Barak made a generous offer comprising 97% of the area of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In actuality, there were several stages in the negotiations, and, if informal reports are correct, the final offer of the Israeli side was indeed generous relative to earlier offers - but it is not clear that the offer was really made. The map of the "final Israeli offer" that has been published in several places (see below) didn't include enclaves or zones of temporary authority. However, according to the non-paper of Miguel Moratinos which summarized the negotiations, there was nonetheless disagreement between the sides about borders, Jerusalem and refugees. Moratinos notes that the Israelis made an offer which Barak later rescinded as invalid It is not clear if the map of the final offer of January 2001 published in several places is the one that was rescinded by Israel. On January 27, both sides published a statement saying they had never been closer to agreement, but Barak, facing elections, suspended the talks." and later in the article. "According to Gush Shalom and Foundation for Middle East Peace, Barak submitted another map in January 2001, as shown at left. Note that the dark and light gray areas are both to be ceded to the Palestinian state, and do not represent "enclaves." This map is similar to the Clinton bridging proposal map of December 2000, but the area around Ma'aleh Edumim that is ceded to Israel is a bit larger. On the other hand, the area ceded to Israel in the north that is shown in Ross's map is not evident in any other maps. In this map there were no longer any areas of temporary Israeli control and no Palestinian enclaves. A large area between Jericho and Maaleh Edumim, previously claimed by Israel, was included in Palestinian territories. The Palestinians supposedly "accepted" this map "as the basis for further negotiations" but they did not agree to the borders, and apparently insurmountable problems remained regarding Right of Return of refugees Jerusalem and other issues. On Jan 27, 2001, the sides issued a joint statement saying, "The sides declare that they have never been closer to reaching an agreement and it is thus our shared belief that the remaining gaps could be bridged with the resumption of negotiations following the Israeli elections." Barak broke off the negotiations on the next day, reportedly saying, "There is no point in talking with Arafat. I am cutting off contact with him until after the election." Right wing critics had considered the negotiations pointless because of the approaching elections, in which Barak was defeated on February 6. The map at left is based on surmise and leaks. No official map was ever released. It is not at all clear that it was accepted by the Palestinians The "non-paper" of Miguel Moratinos issued after the negotiations fell apart indicates that there was in fact no agreement: "According to the document, Israel gave up all the Jordan Valley settlements, focusing instead on its security interests in that area. The dispute centered around the large stretch of territory between Ma'aleh Adumim and Givat Ze'ev, which contains both a fairly large Palestinian population and East Jerusalem's most important land reserves. The Palestinians retracted their earlier readiness to include these two settlements in the settlement blocs to be annexed to Israel after realizing that Israel also insisted on annexing the large tract that joins them - which would mean that Palestinian citizens would suddenly find themselves in sovereign Israeli territory. Barak instructed his chief negotiator, Gilad Sher, to tell the Palestinians that the map presented by then foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, which reduced the area of the settlement bloc (including the Ma'aleh Adumim-Givat Ze'ev tract) to only 5 percent of the West Bank, had no validity." In the map at left, Givat Zeev and Ma'ale Edumim are part of the territories to be kept by Israel. It is not clear if this is the map that Barak rescinded, or the map that the Palestinians objected to."