The following is an exchange of e-mails today (12 August) reprinted with
permission from Haaretz Correspondent Aluf Benn regarding an article he
wrote today (see below):

Dear Aluf Benn,

I read your article in both English and Hebrew today and I was hoping you
could clarify something:

1. It sounds from the article that Israeli withdrawals are carried out after

the signing of a declaration of principles and the amorphous Palestinian
completion of "a series of internal reforms and are capable of carrying out
the entire agreement" rather than the conclusion and signing of a final
agreement.

Is that correct?

2. You also mention that the Jerusalem issue is postponed.

Do you mean to say that under the Olmert proposal Israel withdraws before
the Jerusalem issue is even resolved in principle.

Thanks.

Best regards,
Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA www.imra.org.il Tel 09-7604719

=====

Dear Aaron,

Under the "shelf agreement" concept devised at Annapolis, no withdrawal
before Palestinian capability (I don't know what should be the metric, or
whether it was decided at all, beyond the known Roadmap demands.)

Jerusalem is off the table for now - I don't know what is Olmert's idea of
linking implementation of the rest with resolution of Jerusalem. It's a very
good question. The main problem here is that even at the principle level, by
taking out Jerusalem you lose any possible tradeoffs with other issues (e.g.
no right of return for stronger Palestinian hold over Jerusalem, as proposed
during the post-Camp David negotiations.) This may weaken the ability to
reach a comprehensive deal - a well-tested lesson in negotiations is that
expanding the pie is always better than splitting the issues and discussing
them separately.

Best,
Aluf

===========
Olmert gives Abbas plan for Israeli pullout from 93% of West Bank
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 07:47 12/08/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1010812.html

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has presented Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
with a detailed proposal for an agreement in principle on borders, refugees
and security arrangements between Israel and a future Palestinian state.

Olmert, who met with Abbas this week, feels there is time to reach an
agreement during his remaining time in office. He is now awaiting a decision
from the Palestinians.

The centerpiece of Olmert's proposal is the suggested permanent border,
which would be based on an Israeli withdrawal from most of the West Bank. In
return for the land retained by Israel in the West Bank, the Palestinians
would receive alternative land in the Negev, adjacent to the Gaza Strip. The
Palestinians would also enjoy free passage between Gaza and the West Bank
without any security checks, the proposal says.

A senior Israeli official said the Palestinians were given preliminary maps
of the proposed borders.

Under Olmert's offer, Israel would keep 7 percent of the West Bank, while
the Palestinians would receive territory equivalent to 5.5 percent of West
Bank. Israel views the passage between Gaza and the West Bank as
compensating for this difference: Though it would officially remain in
Israeli hands, it would connect the two halves of the Palestinian state - a
connection the Palestinians did not enjoy before 1967, when the Gaza Strip
was under Egyptian control and the West Bank was part of Jordan.

The land to be annexed to Israel would include the large settlement blocs,
and the border would be similar to the present route of the separation
fence. Israel would keep Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, the settlements
surrounding Jerusalem and some land in the northern West Bank adjacent to
Israel.

Since Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently approved more
construction in both Efrat and Ariel, two settlements relatively far from
the 1949 armistice lines, it is reasonable to assume that Olmert wants to
include these settlements in the territory annexed to Israel as well.

Olmert's proposal states that once a border is agreed upon, Israel would be
able to build freely in the settlement blocs to be annexed.

The settlements outside the new border would be evacuated in two stages.
First, after the agreement in principle is signed, the cabinet would
initiate legislation to compensate settlers who voluntarily relocate within
Israel or to settlement blocs slated to be annexed. Over the past few
months, Olmert has approved construction of thousands of housing units in
these settlement blocs, mostly around Jerusalem, and some are intended for
the voluntary evacuees.

In the second stage, once the Palestinians complete a series of internal
reforms and are capable of carrying out the entire agreement, Israel would
remove any settlers remaining east of the new border.

Olmert will to try to sell the deal to the Israeli public based on a staged
program of implementation. The present negotiations, which started with the
Annapolis Summit in November 2007, are intended to reach a "shelf agreement"
that would lay the foundations of a Palestinian state. However,
implementation of the shelf agreement would be postponed until the
Palestinian Authority is capable of carrying out its part of the deal.

Olmert's proposal for a land swap introduces a new stage in the arrangement:
Israel would immediately receive the settlement blocs, but the land to be
transferred to the Palestinians and the free passage between Gaza and the
West Bank would only be delivered after the PA retakes control of the Gaza
Strip. In this way, Olmert could tell the Israeli public that Israel is
receiving 7 percent of the West Bank and an agreed-upon border, while the
Israeli concessions will be postponed until Hamas rule in Gaza has ended.

Abbas, for his part, could tell his people that he has succeeded in
obtaining 98 percent of the West Bank from Israel, along with a promise to
remove all settlers over the border.

The Palestinians' proposal had talked about a much smaller land swap, of
about 2 percent of the West Bank.

Compared to previous Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the Olmert proposal
falls between the one then prime minister Barak presented to Yasser Arafat
at Camp David in July 2000 and the one he offered at Taba in January 2001.
The Palestinian proposal is similar to the ones offered during the Arafat
years, which would have allowed Israel to annex only a few settlements,
along with their access roads - a proposal nicknamed "balloons and strings."
All these Palestinian proposals ruled out allowing Israel to retain the
settlement blocs.

Since then, however, the separation fence has been built in the West Bank,
and a new physical reality has been created in the areas where the fence has
been completed.

Israel also presented the Palestinians with a detailed model of new security
arrangements under the proposed agreement. The security proposal was drawn
up by a team headed by Maj. Gen. Ido Nehoshtan, now commander of the Israel
Air Force, but previously head of the army's Plans and Policy Directorate.
The proposal has also been passed on to the Americans, in an effort to
obtain their support for Israel's position during the negotiations.

The security proposal includes a demand that the Palestinian state be
demilitarized and without an army. The Palestinians, in contrast, are
demanding that their security forces be capable of defending against
"outside threats," an Israeli official said.

On the refugee issue, Olmert's proposal rejects a Palestinian "right of
return" and states that the refugees may only return to the Palestinian
state, other than exceptional cases in which refugees would be allowed into
Israel for family reunification. Nevertheless, the proposal includes a
detailed and complex formula for solving the refugee problem.

Olmert has agreed with Abbas that the negotiations over Jerusalem will be
postponed. In doing so, he gave in to the Shas Party's threats that it would
leave the coalition if Jerusalem were put on the negotiating table.

Olmert views reaching an agreement with the Palestinians as extremely
important. Such an agreement would entrench the two-state solution in the
international community's consciousness, along with a detailed framework for
achieving this solution. In Olmert's opinion, this is the only way Israel
can rebuff challenges to its legitimacy and avoid calls for a "one-state
solution." Such an agreement would show that Israel is not interested in
controlling the territories, or the Palestinians, over the long run, but
only until conditions arise that enable the establishment of a Palestinian
state. This position has received strong support from the present U.S.
administration.

Next week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the region to
continue her efforts to advance the negotiations. However, Olmert opposes
her proposal to publish a joint U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli announcement
detailing progress in the negotiations since Annapolis. Olmert objects to
publishing partial positions; he only wants to announce a complete
agreement - if one can be reached.