Israel Matzav

Aboul Gheit putting words in people's mouths?

In a bid to get credit for getting 'negotiations' between Israel and the 'Palestinians' going, Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has gotten Arab foreign ministers to report some softening of 'Palestinian' positions.

According to the Arab foreign ministers, the Palestinians have agreed to waive their conditions for reopening the negotiations with Israel in exchange for other terms that Netanyahu could accept more easily.

The Palestinians previously had demanded a complete freeze on construction in East Jerusalem and resuming talks from the point they left off. Now their conditions are Israel stopping its assassinations and military operations in Palestinian cities; easing the blockade on the Gaza Strip and bringing in construction material to enable Gaza's rehabilitation; rezoning West Bank areas where Palestinians have full authority (A) and where they have only civil authority (B) - meaning, having the Israel Defense Forces withdraw to where it was before the Al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000; releasing certain Palestinian prisoners to the PA; and removing eight specific roadblocks in the West Bank.

If Israel agrees to these terms, the Palestinians will return to the negotiations even if the building in East Jerusalem continues and the talks do not pick up where they left off.

Aboul Gheit said the United States would issue a statement against Israeli construction in East Jerusalem and expressing its commitment to the territory of the future Palestinian state.

But Aboul Gheit has apparently been putting words in Prime Minister Netanyahu's mouth and may be putting words in the 'Palestinians' mouths as well.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday that Israel would never cede control of united Jerusalem nor retreat to the 1967 borders, according to a bureau statement.

The statement came after Egypt's foreign minister said in Cairo last week that Netanyahu was ready to discuss making "Arab Jerusalem" the capital of a Palestinian state.

Aboul Gheit also claims Israel is willing to give the 'Palestinians' 100% of the 'West Bank' - a claim that appears doubtful at best.

Aboul Gheit met in Cairo last week with the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, France, Jordan, Spain and Tunisia in Cairo last week to revive the nascent Mediterranean Union. I assume that France and Spain were not included in the 'Arab foreign ministers' reference above.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:24 PM