Thanks to Kur5hin.org for the heads up on this one.
Haaretz - Israel News
Hamas has distributed a document outlining a joint Palestinian leadership program in which the organization, for the first time in its existence, unequivocally recognizes the 1967 borders and adopts the main principle guiding Fatah: the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
But are they really close to a settlement? Basically, what appears to be the Palestinian offer is a return to borders after the 1967 War. Israel has been rejecting that solution for years. They believe those borders are indefensible. In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Barak offered to withdraw from 100% of the Gaza Strip and 95-97% of the West Bank, that is, to the 1967 border with minor modifications.
Since then however, the Israelis have been building a wall that is well within the 1967 borders because it attempts to bring many settlements in the West Bank into proposed Israeli border.
In 1995 Abbas under his alias Abu Mazen negotiated a plan that looks interestingly very similar to the map of the wall under construction. Maybe they are closer to a settlement than it appears at first glance. But as I said before, the agreement on the right to return is also critical. See below:
The Wall --------------------- Abu Mazen Plan
w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 13:47 21/01/2005
Hamas recognizes '67 borders for first time
By Arnon Regular
Hamas has distributed a document outlining a joint Palestinian leadership program in which the organization, for the first time in its existence, unequivocally recognizes the 1967 borders and adopts the main principle guiding Fatah: the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The document, which proposes that Hamas work with Fatah and other Palestinian organizations, is a combination of internal documents prepared by Hamas over the last two years, some of which were first published in Haaretz. But changes have been made over the last few days, and especially after the meeting between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with Gazan Hamas leaders Mahmoud al-Zahar, Ismail Haniya and Said al-Siam this week.
The new version of the document says that one of the principles proposed by Hamas for a joint leadership is "a commitment to ending the occupation and establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state, whose capital is Jerusalem." Until now, the organization leaders had issued similar statements about agreeing in principle to cease-fires or a long-term hudna, but it has never delivered an official document to other factions, starting with Fatah, in which they de facto recognize the political principles of Fatah.
On the one hand, the document emphasizes the "legitimacy of the armed struggle, the political struggle and all the jihadist means that the Palestinian people used and uses to achieve freedom and independence, concentrating all the efforts to condemn the occupation in all its forms in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and every centimeter occupied by foreign forces."
But at the same time, it includes an article calling for improving relations with the world in general and the West in particular, "on a moral basis and political principles that will preserve the rights of our people and guarantee an end to the aggression."
The document was finalized in the wake of heavy pressure on Hamas leaders by Abbas during their meeting Tuesday night in Gaza City. At the two-hour meeting, Palestinian sources said they saw Abbas tell Hamas leaders that he intends to deploy the Palestinian security services to prevent all military activity by all the organizations throughout Gaza and he demanded a commitment from them to cease all their military activity.
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