Olmert offered to swap land for peace, report says

Occupied Jerusalem: Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to swap Israeli territory near the Gaza Strip and West Bank in exchange for colony blocs in the West Bank, the Haaretz newspaper reported yesterday, in the most detailed account of the former Israeli leader's proposed concessions.

The Palestinians did not respond to the September 2008 proposal, submitted at a time when Olmert's ability to negotiate a peace deal was compromised by corruption allegations that eventually forced him to step down. Talks broke down after Israel's war against Gaza fighters last winter and have not resumed.

In all, Olmert proposed ceding 5.8 per cent of Israeli territory for 6.3 per cent of the West Bank where 75 per cent of the 300,000 Jewish colonists live. He offered nearly 100 square kilometres of Israeli territory near the tiny Gaza Strip and nearly 227 square kilometres near the West Bank, much of it from the desert near the West Bank's southern end, Haaretz said.

Road link

The former Israeli leader also proposed a road link through Israel to allow Palestinians to travel between the non-contiguous West Bank and Gaza. That highway would have remained sovereign Israeli territory but there would have been no Israeli presence there, Haaretz said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told Haaretz that Olmert presented several proposed maps. Haaretz said the version it disclosed yesterday was based on sources who had received detailed information about Olmert's proposals.

Olmert's office said in response to Haaretz's report that he had presented a map to Abbas on September 16, 2008, that differed from the map published in Haaretz.

The newspaper said Olmert is currently suggesting that his map provide the basis for resuming negotiations with the Palestinians.

Talks have stalled over the Palestinians' demand that Israel freeze all construction in the West Bank and occupied east Jerusalem, which, like Gaza, were captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel, which withdrew its soldiers and colonists from Gaza in 2005, has agreed to slow construction in the West Bank. It has refused to halt it completely or impose any restrictions on building in occupied east Jerusalem.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem immediately after the 1967 war in a move the international community has not recognised. The Palestinians claim that sector of the city, which contains the Old City shrines sacred to Islam, Judaism and Christianity, as capital of their future state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government will not give up any part of occupied Jerusalem.

Proposed deal