Peres expecting U.S., European support for peace proposal - Haaretz

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Fri., August 10, 2007 Av 26, 5767

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		President Shimon Peres in meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in May of this year. (AP)

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Last update - 05:37 08/08/2007

Peres expecting U.S., European support for peace proposal

By Akiva Eldar and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents

President Shimon Peres expects to receive American and European support
for the peace proposal he submitted to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week.

Sources in Jerusalem said they have heard from American counterparts that the Iraq imbroglio has increased Washington's interest in an Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough.

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Peres also hopes that his former colleagues in the Kadima and Labor parties will back Olmert in adopting the proposal, which calls for an "agreement of principles" in which Israel would promise a Palestinian state on territory equal to 100 percent of the West Bank and Gaza, to be achieved via territorial exchanges. The document also calls for establishing a Palestinian state in temporary borders as a first stage.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who used to be bitterly opposed to the idea of temporary borders, is now willing to discuss it, as long as it is accompanied by a timetable for completing negotiations on a final-status agreement. These negotiations which would, inter alia, finalize the details of the territory Israel would give the PA in exchange for settlement blocs covering about 5 percent of the West Bank would thus be held between two sovereign states.

Yisrael Beiteinu, one of Olmert's coalition partners, advocates giving the PA certain Israeli Arab towns as part of this territorial exchange, but that is not part of Peres' proposal. The president's office said that Peres vehemently objects to the forcible transfer of Israeli citizens to a foreign entity; this would be possible only if all the parties, including Israeli Arabs, agreed.

The proposal does not suggest a solution to the refugee issue, but Abbas said publicly last week that there is no way to force a sovereign state such as Israel to open its gates to refugees, and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayad similarly told Haaretz in a recent interview that any solution to the problem would require Israel's agreement. However, these statements were criticized by Hamas and even some senior Fatah officials. At a speech to the Fatah Central Committee over the weekend, for instance, Hani al-Hassan, who was close to former PA chairman Yasser Arafat, assailed any concession on the refugees' "right of return" to Israel.

Olmert's office vehemently denied Tuesday's Haaretz report on the plan,
which said that the premier was studying it and might adopt at least some of its elements.

"We are not familiar with any plan like the one described in the article, and it is not being considered or discussed in any way," it said.

A senior official in Olmert's office added: "We have not received any position papers or written proposals from Peres. He and the prime minister discussed some ideas, but nothing resembling what was published.

"In any case, what is happening now in the diplomatic process does not mesh with the plan that was published. There is no such plan, and no one is working on such a plan," the official added.

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1.	The U.S. will not support a chopped-up west bank	02:44	\|	Wendy	08/08/07

2.	Abbas is setting himself for his final departure and all the	02:51	\|	lakshmi	08/08/07

3.	Peres is stepping over the lines of presidency mandate	03:22	\|	Joseph E .	08/08/07

4.	No peace or rest for the wicked goverments	03:54	\|	Jlynch	08/08/07

5.	Can Israeli law impeach Peres, if he oversteps his legal powers?	05:24	\|	Joe	08/08/07

6.	The idea called pal state failed , stirring that idea	05:33	\|	Joseph E .	08/08/07

7.	pal state idea failed , stop stirring that stench	05:47	\|	Joseph E .	08/08/07

8.	Wait I thought Olmert Denied this Plan	05:53	\|	ralphsrant1	08/08/07

9.	The only part that I like	07:11	\|	Ron	08/08/07

10.	All peres did is	07:19	\|	bane	08/08/07

11.	Isn`t one Nobel prize enough?	07:57	\|	Aharon Rosenbaum	08/08/07

12.	inevtable	08:11	\|	ravi	08/08/07

13.	So the outline is starting to leak out,....	08:40	\|	Johnboy	08/08/07

14.	The President of Israel Peres propose to reward terror	08:41	\|	Joseph E .	08/08/07

15.	Another desperate president buys a fake peace	09:40	\|	Natallie Durson	08/08/07

16.	Livni	09:47	\|	ron	08/08/07

17.	the broken cane	10:42	\|	Aharon	08/08/07

18.	Oye, the pace of peace.....	10:44	\|	Esther	08/08/07

19.	European Support for the Peace Process	12:30	\|	Dagma	08/08/07

20.	We don`t need the U.S. Wendy!	13:14	\|	Moshe Birnbaum	08/08/07

21.	Peres` Peace Proposal.....	13:17	\|	Dagma	08/08/07

22.	To wendy # 1	13:24	\|	Dolly	08/08/07

23.	It IS POSSIBLE IT COULD WORK-BUT FIRST..	13:37	\|	JON FEIGENBAUM	08/08/07

24.	To Aharon Rosenbaum # 11	14:21	\|	Natasha	08/08/07

25.	To JON FEIGENBAUM # 23	14:49	\|	Sandy	08/08/07

26.	Who with whom?	15:08	\|	Burkhardt	08/08/07

27.	# 20 moshe	03:06	\|	Axel	10/08/07

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