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'Olmert offered to take 5,000 refugees, annex 6.8% W. Bank'

By HERB KEINON, GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN

JANUARY 24, 2011 01:23

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert offered to annex 6.8 of the West Bank and take in 5,000 Palestinian refugees according to documents released by Al-Jazeera and the Guardian Sunday night which offer a summary of Olmert’s offer to PA President Mahmoud Abbas on August 31, 2008.

According to the offer, to which Israel maintains Abbas never responded, Israel would annex 6.8% of the West Bank, including the four main settlement blocs: Gush Etzion, Ma’aleh Adumim, Givat Ze’ev and Ariel, as well as all of the Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem beyond the Green Line, including Har Homa, in exchange for 5.5% of Israeli territory elsewhere.

A special road would connect Bethlehem with Ramallah, bypassing east Jerusalem and going around Ma’aleh Adumim. East Jerusalem would be divided territorially along the lines of the Clinton parameters, meaning Jewish neighborhoods to Israel, and Arab neighborhoods to the Palestinians – with the exception of the “Holy Basin,” whose sovereignty would be negotiated later with the involvement of the US, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.

Regarding refugees, Israel would acknowledge their “suffering,” but not take responsibility for it, and there would be mention in the agreement of Israeli or Jewish “suffering.” Israel would take in 1,000 refugees a year for five years on “humanitarian grounds,” and would contribute to compensation of refugees “based on suffering.”

This package made no mention of the Jordan Valley, nor of Israel’s security requirements.

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