The Palestine Papers
Summary of Ehud Olmert’s “Package” Offer to Mahmoud Abbas - August 31, 2008

Summary on Israel's package offer to the Palestinians, including detailed maps of land swaps in Israel and Jerusalem.  The summary includes offers on territory, Jerusalem, refugees and security.  Israel would annex 6.8% of the West Bank, and safe passage between Gaza and West Bank would be under Israeli sovereignty.  Sovereignty over the Holy Basin would be delayed to a later stage. On refugees, Israel would acknowledge the suffering of – but not responsibility for – Palestinian refugees.  No mention is made of security.

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General

  • The preamble will state that the agreement represents the implementation of UNSC Res. 242 and 338, as well as fulfillment of the API (no mention of UNGA Res. 194).

Territory

  • Israel would annex 6.8% of the West Bank, including the four main settlement “blocs” of Gush ‘Etzion (with Efrata), Ma’ale Adumim, Giv’at Ze’ev and Ariel), as well as all of the settlements in East Jerusalem (with Har Homa), in exchange for the equivalent of 5.5% from Israeli territory.
  • The “safe passage” (i.e., territorial link) between Gaza and the West Bank would be under Israeli sovereignty with Palestinian control, and is not included in the above percentages.
  • There will be a special road connecting Bethlehem with Ramallah, thus by-passing East Jerusalem (most likely the same road currently planned around Adumim).
  • East Jerusalem would be divided territorially along the lines of the Clinton Parameters, with the exception of the “Holy Basin”, whose sovereignty would be delayed to a later stage (see Jerusalem below).
  • There was no mention of the Jordan Valley.

Jerusalem

  • Sovereignty over the “Holy Basin”, which Olmert said comprises 0.04% of the West Bank (approximately 2.2 km), would be delayed to a later stage.
  • The issue would continue to be negotiated bilaterally between Israel and Palestine with the involvement of the United States, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, but without the ability of these third parties to force an agreement on the parties.

Refugees

  • Israel would acknowledge the suffering of – but not responsibility for – Palestinian refugees (language is in the preamble). In parallel, there must also be a mention of Israeli (or Jewish) suffering.
  • Israel would take in 1,000 refugees per year for a period of 5 years on “humanitarian” grounds. In addition, programs of “family reunification” would continue.
  • Israel would contribute to the compensation of the refugees through the mechanism and based on suffering.
  • Not clear what the heads of damage for compensation would be, just that there would be no acknowledgement of responsibility for the refugees, and that compensation, and not restitution or return (apart from the 5,000), would be the only remedy.

Security

  • The “package” apparently made no mention of security.