Netanyahu drafting Palestine peace offer

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is said to be drafting a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, detailing his offer of renewed peace negotiations in response to a Palestinian statement on their stand. Netanyahu’s letter, according to officials quoted in the Israeli news media, will contain nothing new except that it will not include a demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Netanyahu will restate his demand that Israel maintain control over the Jordan Valley and that any future Palestinian state be demilitarised, according to the reports. Netanyahu has repeatedly demanded that the Palestinians recognise Israel as the state of the Jewish people as a precondition to the peace talks. Such recognition is a non-starter because it would mean denying the Palestinian refugees the right of return to their ancestral homeland, from which they were evicted in 1948. According to Israeli officials, the demand that the Palestinians offer this recognition will be made only towards the conclusion of the peace negotiations. Netanyahu’s office said last week that during his scheduled meeting with a delegation of senior Palestinian officials this week, the Israeli premier would suggest holding direct negotiations with Abbas. Netanyahu’s aide, Yitzhak Molcho, will relay this message at his upcoming meeting with Abbas, during which he will also present the Israeli message to the Palestinian president. The Palestinian delegation is expected to include Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, top negotiator Saeb Erekat and Palestine Liberation Organisation Secretary General Yasser Abed Rabbo. The delegation will present Netanyahu with a message regarding the peace process. The message, said to be the final product of months of Palestinian deliberations, will stress that no negotiations would go ahead while settlement construction continues and while Israel refuses to accept the 1967 borders as the basis for negotiations for a two-state solution.