PA rejects Olmert’s recent offer of 93% of West Bank

Palestinian Authority leaders have rejected as “unacceptable” a peace proposal offered by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over recent months that would have given them a state in 93% of the West Bank, along with land swaps and a corridor to Gaza to make up the difference. According to Ha’aretz, the offer was tabled six months ago, and included provisions that would have allowed Palestinian refugees to move to a future Palestinian state but not to Israel, save for a small number of cases of family reunification. Under the deal, Israel would retained the largest Jewish settlement blocs over the pre-1967 Green Line. Israeli land withdrawals would only have taken place after the PA regains control of the Gaza Strip, which is currently controlled by Hamas. As widely reported in recent weeks, Olmert also wanted the search for a solution to the thorny issue of Jerusalem to be deferred to a later date. According to The Media Line, PA official Nabil Abu Rudeina said PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas considered the offer "unacceptable," insisting it did not meet the requirements of the US-backed road map and the Annapolis understandings that the borders of the future Palestinian state should correspond with the pre-1967 borders, with its capital in Jerusalem.