Barak Says Palestinians Accepted Israeli Control Over West Bank Settlements
JERUSALEM, Jan 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday that the Palestinians have for the first time accepted Israel's annexation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, news agencies quoted Israeli public radio as reporting.
The Palestinians agreed in principle to Israeli annexation of settlements during six days of intensive negotiations that ended Saturday at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Taba, Barak told his cabinet at their weekly meeting.
Barak said that the two sides disagreed on the scope of the annexation, but that he was pushing for Israeli sovereignty over 80% of the settlements in the West Bank while the Palestinians wish to limit the bloc's size to between 50% to 60%, Israel radio reported.
This is the first report of any softening in the Palestinian position.
Palestinian Authority officials have publicly maintained that they will insist on Israel's full surrender of all the territory, which it captured in the June 1967 war, including east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
Barak also reiterated his opposition to the right of return for some four million Palestinian refugees, the radio said. Palestinians have demanded that any peace deal allow refugees to return to homes lost when Israel was created in 1948.
At the end of the Taba sessions, the Israelis and Palestinians issued a joint statement declaring that they were closer than ever to reaching a peace deal.
Palestinian information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said a summit between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Barak could happen this coming week.
