Former prime minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that the Bush administration had assured him that the United States would be willing to absorb some 100,000 Palestinian refugees immediately as American citizens. However, Israel had to reach a permanent settlement with the Palestinian Authority.
The former premier told a Geneva Initiative conference in Tel Aviv that during negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2008 he had offered a solution to the refugee problem that would have been in line with the Arab League peace plan and promised that any measures would be the result of a coordinated agreement.
The Bush administration had offered this American contribution to the refugee problem as part of what would be a framework of international compensation, he said.
"I think that if the refugees - many of whom are already second or third generation [Palestinians] living outside of the territories – were given a choice between returning to Israel or the United States, we could guess what they would choose," he said.
Olmert emphasized that during his address to the Annapolis summit in 2007, he had become the first Israeli prime minister to publicly empathize with the suffering the Palestinians had endured over the years as a result of Israel's operations.
The former prime minister said that every ruling Israeli government must accept the fact that peace negotiations would be based on the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders and would include a land exchange. Still, he stressed that both sides must realize that neither Palestinians or Israel would ever have full sovereignty over Jerusalem.
Olmert also said that the U.S. administration under Bush had accepted the "eight-point document" drafted by Israel's defense establishment, which included Israel's central security interests. Olmert said:
Bush promised to pass this along to the Obama administration," Olmert said. "The Palestinians recognized this document and they were not opposed to a single one of its points.
Olmert defended to the audience an excerpt in his upcoming book, dealing with his relationship with Barak. Aides to the defense minister had lambasted Olmert over certain claims made in the book, which they called an effort to "rewrite history".
Olmert disclosed to the conference tensions he had held with Barak regarding Israel's security, indicating that the defense minister had favored avoiding certain important security operations.
Aides to the defense minister had earlier denied one particular claim made in the excerpt, which was published in Yedioth Aharonoth over the weekend. In the chapter, Olmert refers to Barak as "irresponsible" and "irresolute" and says the latter begged him to join Kadima prior to the 2006 elections.
"Ehud Olmert is rewriting history," Barak's aides said. "Barak never asked Olmert or anyone else to join the Kadima list. Any contacts made with that regard were always at the initiative of Olmert and his associates, and were never discussed in any practical terms."
source: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/olmert-bush-offered-to-absorb-100-000-palestinian-refugees-if-peace-deal-reached-1.314644
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The Bush administration had offered this American contribution to the refugee problem as part of what would be a framework of international compensation, he said.
Would Bush have let the Palestinians bring their AK-47s?
"I think that if the refugees - many of whom are already second or third generation [Palestinians] living outside of the territories – were given a choice between returning to Israel or the United States, we could guess what they would choose," he said.
Olmert emphasized that during his address to the Annapolis summit in 2007, he had become the first Israeli prime minister to publicly empathize with the suffering the Palestinians had endured over the years as a result of Israel's operations.
The former prime minister said that every ruling Israeli government must accept the fact that peace negotiations would be based on the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders and would include a land exchange. Still, he stressed that both sides must realize that neither Palestinians or Israel would ever have full sovereignty over Jerusalem.
Olmert also said that the U.S. administration under Bush had accepted the "eight-point document" drafted by Israel's defense establishment, which included Israel's central security interests. Olmert said:
Bush promised to pass this along to the Obama administration," Olmert said. "The Palestinians recognized this document and they were not opposed to a single one of its points.
Olmert defended to the audience an excerpt in his upcoming book, dealing with his relationship with Barak. Aides to the defense minister had lambasted Olmert over certain claims made in the book, which they called an effort to "rewrite history".
Olmert disclosed to the conference tensions he had held with Barak regarding Israel's security, indicating that the defense minister had favored avoiding certain important security operations.
Aides to the defense minister had earlier denied one particular claim made in the excerpt, which was published in Yedioth Aharonoth over the weekend. In the chapter, Olmert refers to Barak as "irresponsible" and "irresolute" and says the latter begged him to join Kadima prior to the 2006 elections.
"Ehud Olmert is rewriting history," Barak's aides said. "Barak never asked Olmert or anyone else to join the Kadima list. Any contacts made with that regard were always at the initiative of Olmert and his associates, and were never discussed in any practical terms."
source: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/olmert-bush-offered-to-absorb-100-000-palestinian-refugees-if-peace-deal-reached-1.314644
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
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