Abbas to Haaretz: Peace deal would have to include right of return By Akiva Eldar and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 15:05 12/09/2008 www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1020448.html

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas doubts that any peace agreement can be
reached by the end of 2008, as not one of the six key issues in a
final-status arrangement has yet been resolved, but insists that any future
deal will have to include the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

Speaking to Haaretz on the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo
Accords, Abbas said that Washington plays a central role in the peace
process. Senior American officials are anxious to reach an agreement by the
end of the year and are convinced this is possible.

However, the gaps between the parties remain wide.

"We presented our ideas and demands regarding the six issues," Abbas stated,
"but have not received any answer from the Israeli side."

Among other things, the Palestinians are demanding negotiations over
disputed lands claimed by both sides, such as the Latrun region, as part of
their demand for an Israeli withdrawal from the entire West Bank, the Gaza
Strip and East Jerusalem, subject to territorial swaps.

Regarding the refugees, the Palestinian president said: "We understand that
if all five million refugees return to their homes, the State of Israel will
be destroyed." Nonetheless, he added, Israel must discuss both its
responsibility for the refugee problem and a practical right of return.

From his remarks, it was apparent that he was trying to bring across the
message that he is probably the best negotiations partner Israel can
currently hope for. On one issue, however, he was adamant: the right of
return. In any future peace deal, Israel will have to commit to absorbing
Palestinian refugees, following negotiations over the numbers, he insisted.

"Palestinians who do not return to Israel will be able to return to
Palestine," he continued. He also said a solution to the refugee problem
would be based on the Arab peace initiative of 2002, which stated that the
solution must be based on United Nations Resolution 194, but acceptable to
Israel.

Abbas pointed out that every Muslim nation in the region, including Iran
(prior to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election as president), adopted the Arab
initiative. "I presented the document with the Iranian signature to Olmert,
but he did not respond," Abbas said. "Regrettably, to this day no debate has
been held by the Israeli cabinet."

Abbas stressed that he will not agree to an interim arrangement such as a
state in temporary borders. Any agreement must address all the components of
the conflict, including Jerusalem and the right of return, he said;
therefore, "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

He concurred with Jordan's King Abdullah II, who told the French newspaper
L'Express that he doubts Israel wants to resolve the conflict, as it lacks
long-term vision. The outlines of an agreement are well known, he said, and
Israel's internal political disputes are apparently the reason no progress
has been made.

Under an Arab League proposal to reconcile Fatah and Hamas, Abbas said, all
members of the Fatah-Hamas unity government would have to honor all
agreements and commitments signed by the PLO, including the Arab initiative
and the road map. He urged Israel to release all the Hamas parliamentarians
it has jailed, saying: "We have made it clear to Israel that any peace
agreement would involve the release of all Palestinian prisoners."

He also warned against the increasing strength of Al-Qaida in the
territories and said the way to curb the organization's power is to end the
blockade of Gaza, since suffering strengthens the extremists.

"Even today, I am sure I would sign the Oslo Accords," Abbas concluded. "I
risked my life for peace, and if I have to pay for it with my life, it is
still a marginal price."

He rejected calls from some leading Palestinian for a single state in which
Palestinians would have equal rights. "We must stick to the 'two states for
two peoples' solution. But the continued construction of settlements, the
roadblocks, the raids in the West Bank distance it."

He emphasized that the West Bank and Gaza must be united, or there will be
no Palestinian state. Nonetheless, he insisted that this must be achieved
only through diplomatic means. "We erred when we made the second intifada
into an armed struggle, and I will do everything to prevent a third armed
intifada," he said.

The only item that has come in an abundance is the body count of dead or maimed Jews.