Israel, Palestinians To Draft Peace Pact

Negotiators Agree To Start Writing Sections Of Proposed Accord

(AP)  Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to start drafting sections of a proposed peace accord that address the main issues of their conflict, the chief Palestinian negotiator said.

Ahmed Qureia, the veteran negotiator heading the Palestinian team, said the decision did not mean agreement had been reached on the major issues that have tormented peace talks for years: final borders, the status of disputed Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

But it is the first time since negotiations resumed more than six months ago that anything will be put to paper on these divisive questions.

"We agreed with the Israelis to begin writing the positions," Qureia told reporters late Friday. He did not say what issue the two sides would start with.

Israeli government officials declined to comment.

Should negotiators agree on an issue, they will draft a single provision, Qureia said. If not, they will lay out on paper their divergent views, he added. On Saturday, he said negotiations were "going through a difficult period" because of tense discussions on Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks in November at a U.S.-sponsored conference in Annapolis, Md. Continued Israeli settlement construction and Israeli security concerns have clouded negotiations, and both sides have expressed doubt about achieving the declared goal of finalizing an accord by the end of the year.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is headed to the region next week in an effort to push negotiations forward.

Qureia did not explain why the two sides agreed at this point to begin addressing core issues in writing.

But the decision comes at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's political survival has been thrust into question over suspicions he accepted illicit cash payments, in part to fuel a luxurious lifestyle. Olmert has denied any wrongdoing and promised to resign if indicted.

Should Olmert's legal woes push Israel into early elections, polls show Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposes major territorial concessions to the Palestinians, becoming Israel's next premier.

Positions drafted during previous rounds of peace talks have not always been preserved for future negotiators.

Qureia also confirmed that Israeli negotiators have offered the Palestinians land in exchange for territory where major West Bank settlements stand, but termed their offer "unacceptable."

Palestinians want to incorporate all of the West Bank into a future state, but their moderate president, Mahmoud Abbas, has acknowledged that Israel, with U.S. backing, likely would hold on to blocs where tens of thousands of settlers live. In exchange, Abbas is prepared to relinquish some West Bank land for an equal amount of Israeli territory.

In Gaza on Saturday, the Islamic militant Hamas claimed responsibility for a string of attacks in Israel carried out several years ago.

A Hamas Web site listed nine attacks that killed 26 people, most of them Israelis, from 2002 until 2005, and said all the attackers came from the West Bank. Other Palestinian groups claimed responsibility for some of those attacks when they happened, though it is possible they were joint operations.

Hamas said it kept quiet about its role in the attacks until now for security reasons. It was not immediately clear whether Hamas really committed the attacks or was making the claim to signal its West Bank gunmen were still active.

In related news, the Israeli military said the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be sealed at midnight for the Jewish Shavuot holiday, which begins at sundown Sunday. Holiday closures, which bar nearly all Palestinians from entering Israel, are a routine part of an effort to minimize the possibility of a Palestinian attack. The closure is to last until midnight Monday.

[closethippy1]

Testing, testing, testing.

[trishab4]

That is not all what Israel is doing.
Israel is threatening to strike the Iranian Nuclear Facilities as well with catastrophic consequences.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3553476,00.html

[kretos-2009]

israel and peace ? impossible

[trishab4]

Barack Obama should ''donate'' his speech writers in order to help draft this Peace Pact as they tend to call it... LIARS are only trying to appease the Israelis and the Palestinians, because they are too mediocre to come up with something that will please all the parties in negotiation, from the first draft!

[cdfoxtrot]

There''s zero chance for peace unless outside parties cajole the various sides into a deal. It has to be the US, since Israel won''t listen to anyone else, refusing to meet with the EU''s foreign representative, among others. Unfortunately, we have to wait until Bush is gone, since he''s left it too late and has been too much on Israel''s side. If Senator Obama becomes president, I hope he stands back from the rhetoric we heard from him last week, when he spoke in front of AIPAC, and basically sided with the most extreme-right wing supporters of the Israeli regime. If McCain wins in November, we can forget about Mid-East peace until he''s gone. I still think it''s never going to happen unless the Palestinians abandon their quest for their own state, and push for one-man-one-vote within a greater Israel that encompasses the Occupied Territories.

[vnveteran72]

In the near future I see the Zionist state disintegrating, to be replaced by a single democratic state for Jews and Palestinians. Most of the secular Jews will welcome this solution since they were in any case uncomfortable with the idea of a Jewish state (or with Judaism altogether). The Orthodox Zionists will lament this development but remain committed to their original goal of settling the Holy Land, albeit under a Palestinian government. And the Orthodox non-Zionists will support this since they were never supportive of the Zionist state to begin with.

So yes, this vision of an invincible Israeli state that will go on for another 60 years is misleading and wrong, and whatever the intentions of those who promote this vision, the effects are clear: it provokes anger and a sense of desperacy in the Muslim world, leading to movements that advocate violence.


-Hersh Lowenthal

[closethippy1]

Testing, testing, testing.

[closethippy1]

Testing, testing, testing.

[sepa2]

This conflict has made peace a four letter word much to the detriment of USA and fairness

[rwkincaide]

The Zionists'' cant is a subterfuge to mask their ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Soon there won''t be any Palestinians left, and the Zionists will call it "peace."

[pensacola88]

Forgive to trust and prosper again...not to simply excuse and lose again.

[pensacola88]

Drafting a peace accord promise is one thing. Keeping a peace accord promise is another. It is like a basic relationship where the core values of the parties on both sides dictate the quality of the relationship.

Some can achieve true peace with others, because they have internal peace and can share or give it. Others don''t have that internal peace and are incable of being faithful or hopeful to any kind of peace promise.

The true test of conflict resolution is in the core values of faith, hope and forgiveness that permits one to trust again after an offense has been forgiven. Otherwise, the act of forgiveness is simply an act of excusal and no real trust exists between parties.

The education to forgive and trust again needs to be a critical part of civic education that has been declared a core value by both countries in this peace accord and needs to be taught to all citizens.

[pensacola88]

Drafting a peace accord promise is one thing. Keeping a peace accord promise is another. It is like a basic relationship where the core values of the parties on both sides dictate the quality of the relationship.

Some can achieve true peace with others, because they have internal peace and can share or give it. Others don''t have that internal peace and are incable of being faithful or hopeful to any kind of peace promise.

The true test of conflict resolution is in the core values of faith, hope and forgiveness that permits one to trust again after an offense has been forgiven. Otherwise, the act of forgiveness is simply an act of excusal and no real trust exists between parties.

The education to forgive and trust again needs to be a critical part of civic education that has been declared a core value by both countries in this peace accord and needs to be taught to all citizens.

[pensacola88]

Drafting a peace accord promise is one thing. Keeping a peace accord promise is another. It is like a basic relationship where the core values of the parties on both sides dictate the quality of the relationship.

Some can achieve true peace with others, because they have internal peace and can share or give it. Others don''t have that internal peace and are incable of being faithful or hopeful to any kind of peace promise.

The true test of conflict resolution is in the core values of faith, hope and forgiveness that permits one to trust again after an offense has been forgiven. Otherwise, the act of forgiveness is simply an act of excusal and no real trust exists between parties.

The education to forgive and trust again needs to be a critical part of civic education that has been declared a core value by both countries in this peace accord and needs to be taught to all citizens.

[pensacola88]

Drafting a peace accord promise is one thing. Keeping a peace accord promise is another. It is like a basic relationship where the core values of the parties on both sides dictate the quality of the relationship.

Some can achieve true peace with others, because they have internal peace and can share or give it. Others don''t have that internal peace and are incable of being faithful or hopeful to any kind of peace promise.

The true test of conflict resolution is in the core values of faith, hope and forgiveness that permits one to trust again after an offense has been forgiven. Otherwise, the act of forgiveness is simply an act of excusal and no real trust exists between parties.

The education to forgive and trust again needs to be a critical part of civic education that has been declared a core value by both countries in this peace accord and needs to be taught to all citizens.

[j-whitman]

There should be another Exodus, this time move the Zionists to Palestine Texas

[j-whitman]

There should be another Exodus, this time move the Zionists to Palestine Texas

[rwkincaide]

The Zionists'' cant is a subterfuge to mask their ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Soon there won''t be any Palestinians left, and the Zionists will call it "peace."

[keithle1]

"Peace Pact"... that''s funny.

[cbsblogger]

I''d offer the suggestion that Israeli leaders don''t really want peace. They want to use the peace process as a plum to manipulate their own people, Americans and the world.

When their reputation and press gets so bad around the world (as Olmert''s is), their propaganda operatives come up with a half hearted peace plan that is actually only lip service.

Then when it fails they''ll come up with an excuse that it wasn''t their fault.