Data in this document are based on the maps Barak showed Arafat in December 2000 and generally termed “Barak’s Generous Offers.” The Israeli public, media and academics use this description unwittingly. This document sheds light on the offer and exposes the truth by examining the details – the offer is a pretense of generosity for the benefit of the media.
Data in this document [ http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/offers.doc
] are based on the maps Barak showed Arafat in December 2000 and generally termed “Barak’s Generous Offers.” The Israeli public, media and academics use this description unwittingly. This document sheds light on the offer and exposes the truth by examining the details – the offer is a pretense of generosity for the benefit of the media.
Barak’s offer gives Israel control over all the border crossings of the Palestinian State. No country in the world would accept that. The words “territorial continuity” are deceptive. No Israeli would agree to travel 50 miles from one town to another, if the real distance between them is only 5 miles.
This impossible offer, Barak’s imperious attitude, the ongoing massive construction in the settlements and Sharon’s provocation – all these contributed to the inevitable explosion [ of recent violence ].
The “generous offer” is a fig leaf that conceals the intentions of those who justify this war against the Palestinians.
In December, no maps of the Gaza Strip were shown, so we cannot illustrate Barak’s intentions there. At Taba, Barak presented a much-improved map. The Palestinians consider it a basis for negotiation. But Barak repudiated it after his election defeat so there is no point in bringing it up.
Any future negotiation must be based on the same historical compromise- 78% for Israel, 22% for Palestine.
Hebrew reachable from the Gush Shalom main menu: http://www.gush-shalom.org/ .
[ UPDATE: The May-June 2002 Report of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (http://www.fmep.org/) contains an excellent map of Israeli Settlement Outposts and territorial control as of June 2002:
for a larger version see: http://www.fmep.org/reports/2002/v12n1_p5_lg_map.html . ]
Author:
News Service: Gush Shalom
Leave a Reply