TV: Netanyahu willing to negotiate Israel border

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, listens to his military advisor Maj. Gen. Yohanan Locker, as he attends a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, in the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, Aug. 1, 2011. / AP

JERUSALEM - In a dramatic policy shift, Israel's prime minister has agreed to negotiate the borders of a Palestinian state based on the cease-fire line that marks off the West Bank, according to a TV report.

Up to now, Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to spell out his plan for negotiating the border. A senior Israeli official would not confirm outright that the prime minister was now willing to adopt the cease-fire line as a starting point, but said Israel was willing to try new formulas to restart peace talks based on a proposal made by President Barack Obama.

In a speech about the Middle East in May, Obama proposed negotiations based on the pre-1967 line with agreed swaps of territory between Israel and a Palestinian state. Netanyahu reacted angrily, insisting that Israel would not withdraw from all of the West Bank, though that was not what Obama proposed.

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Now Netanyahu is basically accepting that framework, Channel 2 TV reported on Monday, and is offering to trade Israeli territory on its side of the line for West Bank land where its main settlements are located.

The Israeli official, who has been briefed on the talks, spoke on condition of anonymity because the contacts are still in progress. He said he would not deny the TV report, while refusing to confirm the specifics. He emphasized that Israel would not withdraw from all of the West Bank.

"We are willing in a framework of restarting the peace talks to accept a proposal that would contain elements that would be difficult for Israel and we would find very difficult to endorse," he said, answering a question about the Obama proposal.

Part of the reason, he said, was that Israel is seeking to persuade the Palestinians to drop their initiative to win U.N. recognition of their state next month, something the Palestinians are doing out of frustration with stalled peace efforts.

Palestinian officials said they had not received such a proposal from Israel.

Palestinians have demanded that Israel stop construction in its West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem before peace talks resume. Netanyahu wants talks with no preconditions where issues like settlements and borders would be discussed, along with his insistence that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

The cease-fire line that marks the West Bank dates to the 1949 end of the two-year war that followed the creation of Israel. It held until June 1967, when Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, claimed by the Palestinians.

Palestinians and most of the world consider the 1967 lines a border, while Israel has always held that it was just a temporary truce line that does not dictate the location of the border.

Previous Israeli governments have accepted the cease-fire line as the basis for talks, and the two sides came close to agreement twice in the past decade before talks broke down over other matters.

Thorny issues like sharing Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees would remain after the border issue is resolved, but U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said that setting a border would defuse the explosive settlement issue by determining which of the enclaves would become part of Israel and which would not.

In the absence of an agreement to return to negotiations, the Palestinians are moving ahead with their U.N. recognition initiative. While a vote in the General Assembly would be symbolic and not legally binding, the Palestinians believe any international endorsement will isolate Israel and improve their position if negotiations resume.

Palestinian officials said Monday they plan to begin mass marches against Israel's occupation of the West Bank on Sept. 20, the eve of the U.N. vote.

Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo said leaders hope to attract millions, and the protest will be the first of a prolonged effort. He said the campaign would be called "Palestine 194," since the Palestinians hope to become the 194th member of the United Nations.

"The appeal to the U.N. is a battle for all Palestinians, and in order to succeed, it needs millions to pour into streets," he said.

[GeeZee9]

The main Zionist claim is that they have a supreme right to some of Palestinian territory because they lived there thousands of years ago. Let's examine the core and real nature of this claim.
Firstly, this claim is mistaken and selfish in its core concept because Zionists fail to recognize that history is a continuum and that there were other people living in majority in Palestine before the Jews and also after the Jews. Zionists simply cut history at a convenient point for them and claim ancestral ties to the land as of that convenient point.
Secondly, whatever the claim, it is beyond absurd to try to shape modern world based on thousands of years old maps. Imagine if the rest of the world would be reshaped by who was on the land thousands of years ago. It would cause horrific wars, countless refugees, and unimaginable human suffering, exactly what is happening in Palestine.

Thirdly and most disturbing, Zionist goal was to establish a Jewish state wherever possible. Palestine may have been a preference, but Palestine was not the only location that Zionists planned as their state in modern times. Another location was Argentina where Jews have been migrating for hundreds of years for the purpose of establishing a state. Also, locations in Europe were on the list and that's why the Catholic Church was killing/expelling Jews since Roman times (read the history of the Holly Inquisition). Whatever the location, Zionist plan was to simply occupy the people living on the land even if that would mean imposing a regime worst than Nazi Germany's from which they escaped. And Zionists would just use a different ideological coloring than the one used in Palestine in the attempt to rationalize the occupation.

In conclusion, the main claim on which the Zionist regime is built in Palestine is erroneous, selfish, and a lie. I am categorically against generalizing, and recognize that many Jews are against the crimes the Zionist regime is committing and that many Jews are leading the global resistance to it. They should be proud.

[BorderOne]

If it is ever reached, the current and any other artificial "peace agreement" will be illegitimate before it is ever signed because (1) all people living in Palestine regardless of religion, race, origin, etc. (hereinafter "All People of Palestine") were never given a choice on how they want their land to be governed, and (2) all contracts signed under duress are null and void.
The biggest problem in Palestine is that the Zionist regime never offered a choice to All People of Palestine on how they want to govern their land because the Zionist regime cannot exist as a democratic entity. If there was ever any democratic process in Palestine, Zionists would have been outvoted and the Zionist regime would have never existed. That is why the Zionist regime is the occupier because it does not offer choice (i.e. democracy), but instead imposes its regime (i.e. occupies). Imagine if Russians would simply occupy a town in the U.S. where they are in significant numbers and attempt to create a Russian state there without giving the rest of the Americans living there a choice. Imagine then if they would try to institute a "peace agreement" that would attempt to legitimize their occupation. The "peace agreement" would logically and legally be illegitimate because the Americans were not given a choice.

Under all countries' laws, any contract is null and void if it is signed under duress. The current Palestine "peace agreement" process reminds me of The Godfather movie where the mafia boss (i.e. the Zionist regime) made a guy "an offer he could not refuse" by placing a gun (i.e. Zionist conventional and nuclear arsenal) to his head and making him sign the contract. Like the mafia boss' offer, any "peace agreement" other than the choice for All People of Palestine is a crime, and the contract is legally null and void.

The bottom line is that All People of Palestine never wanted to divide their land into artificial two states the way the occupation and this "peace agreement" attempt to divide it. From the beginning of the Zionist regime to its unavoidable end, All People of Palestine and the region never wanted the Zionist regime and they do not want it even more after all the atrocities the Zionist regime committed. I just cannot believe how the Zionist regime can be so ignorant to think that this or any other "peace agreement" that does not allow people to choose how they want to be governed will last and ensure its people's survival. The Zionist regime fails to realize that no matter if it succeeds in muscling this "peace agreement" by unspeakable historic coercion tens of millions of moral people around the world will oppose it until it is corrected, and until justice and free choice prevail. Also, ever increasing number of Jewish people are realizing that Zionism is becoming a destructive force for them and are leading the global resistance to it.
Feel free to copy this comment, email it to other bloggers, and repost it on other blogs, newspaper websites, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking websites, and include it in any correspondence/lobbying with senators, state representatives and any other public officials so the public learns the truth...

[Cave_West]

The only solution for a lasting peace is absolute democratic process (that we Americans cherish so passionately) for the entire territory in question, otherwise, the peace will not last. All people who lived there without regard to religion, race, etc. should vote on how they would like their one country to be run. I favor one state solution because two states would only attempt to "legalize" Zionist occupation that will be remembered in history until it is corrected by future large scale conflicts, so no lasting peace will result.
The only issue with the fair democratic process is what to do with all manipulated Jewish people who the Zionist regime imported for decades to increase the Jewish population from around 100,000 to over 5 Million since the start of the occupation. This is obviously an attempt to unjustly manipulate any future democratic process by forcefully increasing the occupier's population at the expense of others. Any compromise other than the absolute fair democratic process with no manipulated population will be temporary with terrible conflicts looming to correct it in the future. The truth is that the Zionist regime will not accept any democratic process even if the manipulated Jewish population is included because it cannot exist as a democratic country as Zionists will be outvoted by all others who live there (Zionists were in an infinite minority before the occupation). The Zionist regime can only temporarily exist through the force of its arms as a one people country where only select ones can vote and where different laws apply to different people. The world must stand up against the Zionist regime by cutting all diplomatic and economic relations with it. Many countries have already stopped all relations with the Zionist regime and others are in the process of doing the same. We Americans need to completely distance ourselves from this oppressive regime through urging our state representatives and senators to do what the rest of the world is doing.

[morris2196]

Israel has fought and died for every inch of land they have, and fought and died several times over to retain it. After all that, I would be shocked if they gave up an inch. Why would they? Even if they gave up the entire West bank, the conflict would continue. It is in the political interests of Syria and Iran that the conflict continue, and they will continue to smuggle weapons to terrorist groups who want to destroy Israel.

[Ketwhat]

CBSnews quotes incorrectly: "In a speech about the Middle East in May, Obama proposed negotiations based on the pre-1967 line with agreed swaps of territory between Israel and a Palestinian state." Both the video tape of Obama's May 18, 2011 speech and the official transcript are consistent. Obama did not say "pre-1967", instead he said "1967". Left open is the interpretation of whether the USA meant "December 31, 1967" or "January 1, 1967". And President Obama repeated himself the next day in a speech (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/19/remarks-president-barack-obama-prepared-delivery-moment-opportunity) at the State Department (http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/obama_remarks_middle_east_north_africa). He did not make a mistake; the media seems to be deliberately making the mistake.

[tsigili]

Doesn't matter what Israel does.......the Palestinians will NEVER make peace. The US is sending aid to Hamas, and financing the Palestinian terrorists.

[worldcitizen1]

ALL foreign economic and military assistance should be stopped. We cant even provide basic services to US citizens with our tax money.

[Uncle_Eccoli]

There is no Arab state west of the Jordan, recognized or otherwise. There is only a network of crooked thugs and terrorists.

If these Arabs truly desire such a state, they must entirely and demonstrably forsake terrorism and would be well-advised to look to HaYishuv as a model.

[Uncle_Eccoli]

I could declare myself a god next month. That wouldn't make it so.