Palestinian Leaders Open to Land Swap

Palestinians are open to “slight amendments in the border” in any future final-status agreement with the Israelis, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas said in an interview with Palestinian TV.
Israel's Negev desert - part of a possible land swap. (Dudi Saad/TML Photos)
Palestinians are open to “slight amendments in the border” in any future final-status agreement with the Israelis, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas said in an interview with Palestinian TV. ‘Abbas rejected any talk of a land swap involving areas in the Triangle, a region with a large Arab-Israeli population in Israel. An unnamed Palestinian government official told The Media Line there were no details regarding the amount of land to be swapped or the areas where this would take place. This would all depend on the negotiations, he said. The Palestinians have always agreed that a land swap between Israelis and Palestinians would be part of a final-status agreement, the official said. “The area of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is 6,025 square kilometers (2,326 square miles) and this is the area where we want to establish our independent Palestinian state,” ‘Abbas said in the interview. This was the first time ‘Abbas put a number on the demand for land. Ahmad Qurei’, who heads the Palestinian negotiating team, said the Palestinians would consider swapping equal amounts of land with Israel as part of a final agreement. Israel could retain parts of the West Bank if it reciprocated with other territory in equal amounts, he told AP. Qurei’ and ‘Abbas’s comments come in the run-up to the international Mideast peace summit in Annapolis scheduled for next month. Qurei’ warned that a failure to reach an agreement to end the conflict could result in bloodshed, worse than the violence that erupted after the failure of the Camp David Summit in 2000.
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