Monday, November 19, 2007

Arabs Demand Sweeping Concessions; Olmert To Deliver On Some

Baruch Gordon and Hana Levi Julian

Palestinian Authority (PA) demands for sweeping concessions by Israel prior to the Annapolis summit next week are growing. The Arabs demand more terrorists be released, a halt to building Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria, and immediate talks on borders for a Palestinian Authority State.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is now insisting on a mass release of 2,000 convicted terrorists, including those who have been involved in murdering Israelis.
Regarding the establishment of permanent borders for a PA state, PA officials previously threatened to torpedo the Annapolis summit if Israel does not come to the table with a promise to commence talks immediately.
On Friday, PA negotiator Saeb Erekat demanded in a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush that, prior to the Annapolis summit, Israel dismantle all new Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and stifle growth in those that have existed for decades.
"Enough games," Erekat said. "We want to see an end to settlement expansion and natural growth."

Included were requests to end building in “settlement blocs” such as Ariel and Maaleh Adumim, which Israeli politicians have vowed to retain in any future agreements with the Palestinian Authority.

Israel has already buckled to pressure from the U.S. and Arab countries and begun to comply with the demands.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to ask the cabinet Monday to free hundreds of Palestinian Authority terrorists in Israeli jails before the summit. It appears that the Prime Minister will release between 400 and 500 more terrorists.

Lt.-Col. (Res.) Meir Indor, Director of the Terror Victims Association, is not optimistic that freedom for terrorists will mean PA compliance with Step One of the Road Map, which calls for a total end to terrorism against the Jewish State.
"We saw recently in the case of the PA terrorists who were plotting to kill Prime Minister Olmert,that the PA set them free a few days later. The PA doesn't view terrorists as law breakers. Their arrests are meaningless," he pointed out.
A PA spokesman over the weekend said security forces uncovered terror cells and bomb in Shechem. However, according to IDF sources, PA police have not made a serious effort to fight terrorists in the city; the dozens of bombs discovered by PA police last week were old and found in an abandoned building.

The terrorist infrastructure in Shechem has not been dismantled, said army sources, despite PA contentions that its forces are successfully fighting operatives in the city known as "terrorist central" and that the Israeli army should withdraw.
Regarding building, Defense Minister Ehud Barak has rejected all requests for building permits in Judea and Samaria for the past five months.

As it is, the number of permits approved went down by 26 percent from 2005 to 2006, and then from 83 percent between 2006 and the beginning of 2007. Defense Ministry spokesmen did not confirm the report.

In addition, the PA is demanding that Israel re-divide Jerusalem, a plan championed by Israel's chief negotiator, Vice Premier Chaim Ramon and allegedly quietly agreed to by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

On this point, however, the Israeli 'powers that be' have hit a wall of opposition by most Knesset Members, including some from Olmert's own Kadima party.
Officials in both Israel and the PA say they hope to reach a final deal before President Bush leaves office in January 2009.

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