Former prime minister Ehud Olmert revealed in a yet-to-be-broadcast interview with the BBC the map he presented to PA President Mahmoud Abbas as part of the 2008 negotiations between the two parties.
According to the map, 94% of the West Bank was offered for the creation of a Palestinian state.
In addition, Israel was supposed to annex 4.9% of the West Bank, in return for which it would have ceded territory on the outskirts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip area.
Alongside conceding territory to both the West Bank and Gaza, the proposal would have resulted in a tunnel or highway connecting the two.
Olmert also drew up plans for Jerusalem, which would be divided between Israel and a Palestinian state, with both claiming parts of the city as their capital. The Old City and nearby religious sites would hand over the administration to a committee of trustees consisting of Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the US.
The BBC noted that, if the plan had proceeded, dozens of Jewish communities throughout the West Bank and Jordan Valley would have been evacuated, much like the communities of Gush Katif when Israel left Gaza in 2005.
‘An historic opportunity’
Olmert’s revelation is part of a broader BBC documentary titled Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October, which launched on Monday. Olmert told filmmakers, “This is the first time that I expose this map to the media.”
“In the next 50 years, you will not find one Israeli leader that will propose to you what I propose to you now,” Olmert was cited as saying during the talks, by the BBC.
Abbas responded to the proposal by saying, according to Olmert, “Prime minister, this is very serious. It is very, very, very serious.”
“We parted, you know, like we are about to embark on a historic step forward,” Olmert noted.
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