The Palestinian Authority plans to swamp Israel with a list of demands it won’t be able to agree to, with the hope of forcing the U.S. Administration to publicly blame Israel for the stalemate in talks and name it as the party responsible for failing to achieve a peace deal. President Mahmoud Abbas has reportedly drawn up a final status map, demands a land swap with Israel and insists on receiving the same size of land as the ’67 borders. Fact or fiction the coming weeks will tell whether the reports are speculation or fact. A U.S. Administration document drawn up ahead of talks, has said its top priority is to bring about the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has reportedly prepared a final status map whereby 1.9 per cent of Judea and Samaria will be given to Israel, in exchange for a similar amount of land that will be handed over to the future Palestinian state.
Proximity talks with Israel, will focus on security arrangements and borders, but the Palestinians plan to insist on receiving the same size of land as the 1967 borders, based on exchanges of territory, Israel’s daily Maariv newspaper said Monday.
According to the Palestinians, conditions to embark on direct talks with Israel, will only happen after they receive Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s agreement to a land swap, an issue they claim was raised in previous talks and has received the backing of U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell, and the international community.
The Palestinians intend to force Netanyahu into the position where he will be forced to reject their offer, enabling them to prove to the U.S. Administration that there is no point in proceeding further, the report said.
It is possible Abbas or another senior Palestinian official, will present conditions for final status talks, which include receiving the same size of land as the 1967 borders, a land swap, a demilitarized area and the division of Jerusalem, among other things.
The Palestinians are keen to portray Israel as the side preventing progress being made, thereby forcing the U.S. Administration to blame Israel for the stalemate.
Abbas is under a lot of pressure to declare his red lines, details of concessions he intends to make, and to discuss the borders and security arrangements first, and only after discuss the division of Jerusalem and the refugees status, and the fact that the land swap will mean that the majority of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria will remain intact.
Netanyahu will be forced to show creativity and cunning in order to extricate a peace deal from the proximity talks in the four month period approved by the Arab League. If the Palestinian plans succeed, Netanyahu may find himself in the midst of a confrontation with the U.S. Administration and the international community at the end of that period.
A survey conducted by the Ramallah based Khalil Shikak over the weekend shows that approximately three quarters of the Palestinian public oppose peace negotiations without a settlement freeze first.
The United States has emphasized that their top priority for proximity talks is to lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state. A document drawn up by the U.S. Administration said “our core remains a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian State with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967.”
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