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In the final version of the road map for an Israeli-Palestinian arrangement, most of the Israeli demands for corrections were rejected,as indicated by an analysis comparing the final document to the Israeli comments. This contradicts claims made in Jerusalem that this was an Israeli achievement.
The comparison was made between the final road map, which was finalized during the latest meeting of the Quartet, which includes the US, the EU, the UN and Russia, and the comments Israel submitted on the first draft.
Among others, Israel requested to determine that one of the conditions for progress is the replacement of the Palestinian leadership with a “new and different leadership”,meaning the replacement of Arafat. The final version makes no explicit mention of changing the leadership and states only that it will be possible to make progress when the Palestinian people have a leadership that acts strongly against terror.
According to the sources, the Israelis also demanded that the US be the one to supervise the process and its implementation, but the final document states that the Quartet will meet regularly to evaluate the performance of the parties. Israel also requested that there be no reference in the document to the Saudi plan, but the final document says that the arrangement will be based, among others, on the plan of Prince Abdullah and bring an end to the “occupation that began in 1967”, in complete contradiction to the Israeli request.
Israel also met with disappointment on the issue of settlements. Israel requested that questions relating to the settlements be discussed in the final status arrangement. In the final document, even the condition that existed in the previous draft of the document vanished, which had stated that the freeze on settlements would take place unconditionally after a comprehensive cease fire. On the matter of Jerusalem as well, Israel’s request not to re-open the Palestinian institutions in the city was rejected, and the document states that the institutions that were closed will be re-opened.
Israel’s main achievement is in fact the American agreement to begin the implementation of the document only after the elections in Israel.
Sources in Jerusalem said that the final document has not reached Israel, and this is a non-binding document.
