Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told parliament on Monday a partial deal with the Palestinians could be reached this year on borders, security and refugees but not Jerusalem, officials said. Olmert, who earlier this month said Israel and the Palestinians had never been so close to an agreement, has been talking up peace prospects as he clings to office in the face of a police investigation that could force him to step down.
Israeli officials said Olmert envisages agreeing a joint document with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that sets out borders for a future Palestinian state, security arrangements and a way to deal with millions of Palestinian refugees, but leaves out the even more contentious issue of Jerusalem.
"I don't believe that it's possible to reach an agreement on Jerusalem before the end of the year. But on the other core issues, the gaps are not dramatic," an Israel official, speaking on condition of anonymity, quoted Olmert as telling an Israeli parliamentary committee.
Nabil Abu Rdainah, Abbas's spokesman, said Jerusalem was a "red line" for Palestinians, who want the city's Arab eastern half as the capital of their future state. "We will not accept any agreement that excludes Jerusalem," he added. Israeli officials said the joint document would refer to Jerusalem. But in lieu of a deal on its fate, Olmert proposed an Israeli-Palestinian "mechanism" to continue talks into 2009.
Olmert and Abbas launched US-sponsored peace talks last November with the declared goal of reaching an agreement before US President George W. Bush leaves office in January. But the negotiations have been bogged down by disputes, mainly over Jewish settlement building in and around Jerusalem.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will host a three-way meeting with Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams in Washington later this week, but Israeli officials played down the chances of a breakthrough. According to Palestinian and Western officials, Olmert has offered to return some 92.7 percent of the occupied West Bank, plus all of the Gaza Strip.
Olmert has also proposed a 5.3 percent land swap for major settlement blocs which Israel wants to keep as part of any accord. Abbas has demanded all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but officials say he may accept a 1.5-2 percent swap under which Palestinians would be compensated with land from Israel.
Olmert wants any agreement to address the refugee issue by saying that just as Israel is the homeland for the Jewish people, Palestine would be the homeland for the Palestinian people, officials said. That formula effectively denies Palestinian refugees what they consider their right to return to their former homes in what became the state of Israel in 1948. The West Bank and Gaza Strip constitute 22 percent of British Mandate Palestine. They were captured by Israel from Jordan and Egypt in the 1967 Middle East war.
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