On eve of Obama-Netanyahu meet, Abbas offers Jerusalem compromise
Al Hayat reports Abbas proposed creation of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, with a possible land swap of 2.3 percent of West Bank.
By Avi Issacharoff and Natasha Mozgovaya
The London-based Arabic newspaper, Al Hayat, reported this weekend that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had proposed the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with a possible land swap of 2.3 percent of the West Bank to ensure a fair solution for Israeli settlement blocs. Al Hayat reported that the Palestinians agreed to leave settlement blocs including Gush Etzion, Pisgat Ze'ev and Modi'in Ilit, along with a swath of land overlooking Ben-Gurion International Airport, in Israeli hands.
In exchange, the PA would receive land of comparable size and quality in the southern West Bank as well as a corridor between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Abbas also reportedly proposed easing Palestinian demands over East Jerusalem to permit the Jewish Quarter of the Old City as well as the Western Wall to remain under Israeli sovereignty. The remainder of the Old City, he proposed, would become the capital of a Palestinian state but fully open to the adherents of all faiths.
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http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/on-eve-of-obama-netanyahu-meet-abbas-offers-jerusalem-compromise-1.299850
