- According to a new peace initiative being prepared by
Arab states, Israel will negotiate a peace agreement with all the Arab
states, and not just with the Palestinians, and Arab states would absorb
Palestinian refugees.
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- The Kuwaiti newspaper Al Siyasa reported Saturday that
the initiative, led by Saudi Arabia, would include "declarations of
peace agreements between all Arab states," which will bring an end
to the conflict between Israel and the Arabs. The states would declare
a normalization in their ties with Israel, including the appointment of
ambassadors.
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- The Arab states will demand that Israel withdraw to its
borders prior to the June 1967 war, in other words, to leave the Palestinian
territories and withdraw from the Golan Heights.
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- The initiative also includes a "creative solution"
for the problem of Palestinian refugees, which is one of the most serious
issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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- According to the plan, some two million Palestinian refugees
would be allowed to return to the new Palestinian state that would be established.
More than two million others would be absorbed by other Arab states, and
will be compensated for the suffering they had endured.
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- The Arab countries would open their gates to the refugees
on the condition that their number won't exceed 10 percent of the existing
population.
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- Under the deal, Iraq will also accept Palestinian refugees.
Israel will not be required to absorb any Palestinian refugees.
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- The new Arab initiative, led by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah,
was presented last week at the U.S. State Department. It would be brought
for approval at a summit of Arab League leaders to be held in Tunisia in
March.
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- Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and probably Qatar are the main
supporters of the plan. The plan is based on a prior peace initiative presented
by Saudi Arabia, and which approved in a summit held in Lebanon in 2002.
According to the previous Saudi plan, Arab states would recognize Israel's
right to exist in peace, and will hold ties with it if it withdraws to
the pre-1967 war lines.
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- <http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/386411.html>http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/386411.html
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