Reports: Israel Would Allow 90 Percent of West Bank to Go to Palestine
Discussion Coming Down to 'Percentage Points'
Details of the closed-door negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority suggest the two sides are much closer together than previously indicated, with the two sides just “percentage points” away on land swaps.
Israel is looking to annex 10 percent of the West Bank in the deal, while the PA is said to be favoring a deal that caps the annexations at 3 percent, with land exchanges.
3 percent or 10 percent isn’t as big a difference as it sounds, as either would encompass the vast majority of Israel’s settlements. Some of the settlement blocs south of Jerusalem are apparently agreed to by both sides, while some others are still in dispute.
The suggestion of an independent Palestine including 90 percent of the West Bank is hugely promising, with discussion of them also getting some land in the Negev, bordering the Gaza Strip, as part of the settlement of the refugee issue.
On the other hand, Israel has coalition partners threatening to withdraw and collapse the coalition if they get close to such a deal. The discussion of percentages in the West Bank also didn’t include the question of East Jerusalem, which Palestinians envision as their future capital and which Israel has already annexed outright.
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Empire Slayer
February 6th, 2014 at 10:24 pm
Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-hXIpm-p6M
Norman Finkelstein discusses above, about a month ago, how Israel will say it is "giving up" 90% of the West Bank.
Zero percent of the West Bank is Israel's to give up. Its just a tactic to make it seem like 10% is so little, when the 10% they want has all the resources of the area, such as water, which is why they want it.
Zero of the West Bank is Israel's, and if the USA would stop blocking the international legal and moral consensus, law could be enforced and Israel could be made to comply.
ZERO PERCENT OF WEST BANK TO ISRAEL. ZERO PERCENT OF EAST JERUSALEM TO ISRAEL.
And of course zero percent of Gaza.
lydia476
February 6th, 2014 at 11:40 pm
NOTHING less than100% ie the TOTAL withdrawal of Israel from ALL lands not part of Israel's Unilaterally declared Jewish State, as enshrined in UN181.
King Abdullah of Jordon refused to accept the return of 95% of Palestinian land, for it did not even comply with Israel's own self imposed obligation to UN242 and in 2000 when Arafat rejected 90% for the same reason his rejection led to Israel bulldozing his compound and eventually murdering him.
If 90% wasn't enough in 2000 it isn't nearly enough in 2014 and 60Y of Israel's illegal occupation, mass murder and subjugation of the Palestinian people, in violation of some 250UN res can under no circumstance whatever be seen as rewarding Israel with a single grain of Palestinian land.
jtt
February 7th, 2014 at 1:29 am
With settlements popping up everywhere, I doubt the accuracy of this story.
Clarence
February 7th, 2014 at 3:04 am
Wow. Spoken like a true peacemaker. Is that an olive branch in your hand, or a machete?
I'm trying to imagine "peace negotiations" being conducted with strident, angry people like you at the table, and I'm understanding why the Israelis always lament that they "have no-one to talk to". Plenty of folks who will issue ultimatums and recriminations, but no-one to TALK TO.
People full of hate and resentment don't want to understand the other side's concerns or needs, and they don't want anything resembling peace and harmony. A state of true and lasting peace doesn't exist at the conclusion of negotiations with people like you. Small wonder the peace process never leads anywhere.
Amanda
February 7th, 2014 at 3:12 am
Let me understand this by illustrating it: A woman robs a bank at gunpoint, kills a few of the bank's customers inside during the theft. Then as time goes by, she starts to negotiate with the Police and the bank authorities on how much of the stolen money she can keep? Does that basically define the absurd situation?
jtt
February 7th, 2014 at 5:29 am
Disagree with your comments; for 60 years the Israelis have been saying that they "have no-one to talk to," are you saying that the Palestinians are savages? Abbas considered him self as a moderate, but yet the Israeli wont talk to him.
lydia476
February 7th, 2014 at 5:36 am
Your victim hood mental is showing again with the accompanying wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth.
Peace? What peace? The Palestinians haven't had any with Israel stealing their land and incarceration their people, uprooting centuries old Olive trees, poisoning wells etc etc. What Is Israel expecting after 65Y of brutality a love fest?
As per Israel Plan Dalet, the peace process never leads anywhere, because Israel uses the negotiations to steal more land. Tell me again why should Israel be rewarded for 65Y of flaunting international laws?
Belphegor69
February 7th, 2014 at 6:32 am
We're all sick of your saint-like Chosen people pretending to want peace. No one buys it anymore. It's only a matter of time before precious, innocent, victimized Israel is forced to make peace – let the boycotts continue, let Israel go the way of apartheid South Africa.
Fed Up
February 7th, 2014 at 6:59 am
Ok Clarence, Let me confiscate your home and regulate you & your family to the back yard garden shed. But you have access to the garden hose for water , When I turn it on. How'd you like them apples?
And now you have to publicly say, I have a right to live here in peace…..
Argonne18
February 7th, 2014 at 7:25 am
While I am sure this is simply more lies and dissembling from the ravenously expansionist, apartheid, Israel, the simple truth is they should not be allowed any land at all. Why do we reward land stealing and war crimes? Why should the horribly oppressed Palestinians have to give up one inch. Why not force Israel to give up some choice land of hers? After all, it was all stolen from the Palestinians through massacres and ethnic cleansing.
bill kelsey
February 7th, 2014 at 7:35 am
An important detail when discussing percentages of land in the West Bank is not only that East Jerusalem is not included in the West Bank but the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem have been expanded to take a huge chunk of the territory in question.
The fairest solution is that proposed by forward thinking Israelis and Palestinians – the "one country solution." One country between the River and the Sea, one person one vote, equal rights for all.
rosemerry
February 7th, 2014 at 1:07 pm
Clarence, the hatred is obvious in the Israeli position and actions. Strident, angry are weak words to describe the constant threats and insistance of so many of the "parties" involved in Israel's "negotiations". Read them/listen and don't pretend there is any real possibility of a fair deal.
Caesar_Saladin
February 7th, 2014 at 3:38 pm
With negotiations this close, I'd say both parties should step up their game and get it done so everyone can move on. Israel has some serious self-image repairs to handle, and Palestine needs to get on with the daunting task of nation-building. If they're both committed to a two-state solution, let's get it in gear and get it done.
While a part of me says 'giving up' 10% in outright negotiations or swapping 10% of land is not exactly the 'right' thing, the facts on the ground lead me to think that- assuming the 10% doesn't give up Jerusalem completely- Palestine and Israel should close the deal and start looking for partners to help build the nation.
Of course, I'm in a drug-induced haze right now (pro tip: do NOT ever get facial cellulitis) but that's my initial thoughts on the matter.
Borden
February 7th, 2014 at 5:01 pm
My, how time flies. It seems like only yesterday that the standard hasbara lie was that the settlements were only bargaining chips, to be returned as part of any future peace agreement.
Israel's land thefts will stop only when the Palestinians have nothing left worth stealing. The 98% and now 90% claims are more hasbara for the gullible.
Disgusted Reader
February 7th, 2014 at 5:05 pm
Israel has clearly established itself as a cruel, sadistic, unflinching terrorist nation that will stop at NOTHING to achieve it's fanatically misguided religious objectives. (Remember the USS Liberty?)
God never operated a real estate agency in the Middle East. How DARE they call themselves the "chosen people"? I absolutely fail to understand the paranoid, schizophrenic and obseqious behavior of our government in dealing with this foreign (and often hostile) entity and their slavish commitment to their much debated security requirements, that the US taxpayer has to support.
dan
February 7th, 2014 at 6:55 pm
Even If Israel withdrew from 100% of the West bank, that and Gaza is still only 22% of Palestine pre-1948. Note how the issue keeps always shifting in its favour. It is not a discussion of giving back any pre-1967 lands, now its a question of how much of the post-war land they will keep. But its framed as though they are giving something up, which is a mischaracterization of the facts.
Thomas L. Knapp
February 7th, 2014 at 7:08 pm
Not even close to 22%. Israel, Gaza and the West Bank combined are about 12% of Palestine. The other 88% is called "Jordan."