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Washington Mute on U.S. Tradeoff Ideas Described By Peres
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Boucher
would not comment on “stories… or quotes out there from any
particular person about what the
United States
might be planning.”
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WASHINGTON
, June 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The U.S. State Department
Thursday would not comment directly on a proposal attributed to
Washington
by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres that
Israel
abandon its illegal settlements in the
West Bank
and
Gaza
in return for Palestinian renunciation of the right of return for
refugees.
“As
far as stories out there or quotes out there from any particular
person about what the United States might be planning or have in mind,
at this point I just have to say, we're listening, we're sharing
ideas, we are discussing with others,” State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said, quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Boucher
said President George W. Bush was looking forward to discussions
“about how we can proceed” with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,
who visits him at Camp David this weekend, and with Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon, who comes to the White House Monday, June 10.
Speaking
in Tel Aviv, Peres claimed
Washington
had proposed
Israel
dismantle its settlements in the
West Bank
and
Gaza
in return for a Palestinian renunciation of the right of return for
refugees.
“There
are new ideas in the air from the United States, under which Israel
would give up all its settlements and the Palestinians would renounce
the refugees’ right of return,” Peres said, though he did not
mention a specific U.S. plan or provide further details.
A
senior
U.S.
official said there were “a lot of ideas on the table,” but no
decision has yet been made on what, “specifically, would be the
U.S.
position.”
Both
the right of return of refugees and the fate of the existing illegal
settlements should be “defined as a final status issue,” the
official said. “It is not for the
United States
to say how refugees are to be dealt with.”
Israel
has built more than 160 illegal settlements in the
West Bank
and Gaza Strip since occupying the lands in the 1967
Middle East
war. The settler population has mushroomed to about 400,000, including
occupied east
Jerusalem
.
Since
Israel
's creation in 1948, about 3.7 million Palestinians have been
registered as refugees. They demand the “right of return” to their
homes in the Palestinian land occupied by
Israel
, but
Israel
has adamantly objected under the pretext this would destroy the Jewish
character of its state.
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