Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to release over 1000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, to remove several blockades in the West Bank, and to ease the blockade on the Gaza strip, the London-based Arabic news Agency Al Hayat reported on Saturday.
During his meeting with United States special Mideast envoy George Mitchell on Friday Netanyahu also agreed to enable the Palestinian Authority to act in Area C in the West Bank, however he refused the U.S. demand to freeze construction in East Jerusalem and also the request to return all territories classified as Area C in the West Bank under PA sovereignty, Al-Hayat reported.
Netanyahu agreed, however, to enable the PA to act in Area C which would remain under Israeli sovereignty, Al-Hayat reported.
Palestinian sources quoted by the London-based paper said that Abbas has rejected Netanyahu's recent offer to establish a Palestinian state within temporary borders on over 60 percent of West Bank territories, as he believed that the offer was an attempt to drag him into sterile negotiations in order to perpetuate the PA's temporary borders, Haaretz reported.
The Israeli offer was conveyed to Abbas by Israeli and American officials, while President Shimon Peres and Defense minister Ehud Barak both attempted to convince the United States that this was the only way to prevent a continuous Middle East conflict, Al-Hayat reported.
They Israeli leaders also attempted to convince Abbas over the phone to accept the offer, and stressed that it would not be a permanent solution to the ongoing conflict, but that it was the best option in light of the current circumstances, Al-Hayat reported.
PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said that establishing a Palestinian state with temporary borders was out of the question and demanded a total construction freeze in East Jerusalem, Al-Hayat reported.
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