PM’s lines in sand for summit: J’lem, refugees, ’67 lines
By Aluf Benn and Gideon Alon, Ha’aretz, 13 February 2007
Israeli and Palestinian leaders are embroiled in a bitter dispute over what topics should be on the agenda of next week’s trilateral summit.
The summit, involving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, is scheduled to take place in Jerusalem on Monday.
Despite the dispute, Rice is insisting on holding the meeting to demonstrate progress in Israeli-Palestinian relations.
According to government sources, however, Olmert is refusing to discuss three major elements of any final-status agreement – Palestinian refugees, the status of Jerusalem and an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 armistice lines – because he believes that raising any of these issues would doom the talks to failure. [More]