Restarting Peace Talks, More Posturing

Vice President Biden has arrived in Israel with the express purpose of restarting peace talks. So far, Vice President Biden has assured Israelis of the unshakable ties between the U.S. and Israel and has remained positive at the prospect of indirect peace talks. Most news media outlets have reported that the Palestinian Chief Negotiator, Saeb Erekat has been very disappointed with Israel’s endeavors to build 112 new apartments in Modiin Illit. He has stated that “This will put a question mark on what we are trying to do”.

Mr. Erekat’s statements are puzzling as applied to Modiin Illit in context. Modiin Illit is an ultra-orthodox offshoot of its sister city Modiin, which lies on Highway 1 between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Although technically outside the Green Line, the city is very close to the 1967 borders and is expected by all parties to be part of Israel Proper after final status negotiations are complete. The framework of the final status settlement has been outlined in the Geneva Accord which has been preliminarly accepted by members of the Israeli and Palestinian negotiations camp.

Other settlements that have caused the same contentious reactions in the Palestinian camp are Ma’ale Adumim and Ariel, both sprawling cities with populations in the tens of thousands, very close to the green line and slated to be part of Israel Proper as well. I have included a map illustrating the location of the settlements in question below.

The Geneva Accord States:

What happens to the settlers?

Most get to remain where they are. This includes the major settlements of Maale Adumim, Modiin Ilit, Beitar Ilit and the Etzion Bloc.

Those Israeli settlers whose communities fall outside the areas annexed by Israel would be evacuated to Israel. These include the large northern settlement of Ariel and the settlements in and around Hebron in the south. Gadi Baltiansky, director of the Geneva Initiative’s Israel offices, estimates that about 100,000 of the 300,000 settlers currently living in the occupied West Bank, not including east and north Jerusalem, would have to be moved.

The 200,000 Israelis who live in occupied areas that Israel now considers to be within Jerusalem would be allowed to remain and the area would be annexed by Israel.

The Geneva Accord formed the Basis of Ehud Olmert’s offer to Abbas just 15 months ago. The offer included the following:

Olmert told me he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in September 2008 and unfurled a map of Israel and the Palestinian territories. He says he offered Abbas 93.5 to 93.7 percent of the Palestinian territories, along with a land swap of 5.8 percent and a safe-passage corridor from Gaza to the West Bank that he says would make up the rest. The Holy Basin of Jerusalem would be under no sovereignty at all and administered by a consortium of Saudis, Jordanians, Israelis, Palestinians and Americans. Regarding refugees, Olmert says he rejected the right of return and instead offered, as a “humanitarian gesture,” a small number of returnees, although “smaller than the Palestinians wanted—a very, very limited number.”

*** Israeli negotiators close to Olmert have stated that the Palestinians inexplicably rejected Olmert’s offer while Saeb Erekat claims that time ran out before negotiations could be completed as Olmert’s term as Prime Minister ended.

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