'Netanyahu never agreed to '67 borders or division of Jerusalem' - Dudi Caspi, Shlomo Cesana and Gadi Golan

by Dudi Caspi, Shlomo Cesana and Gadi Golan

Dennis Ross, who mediated peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, responds to Yedioth Ahronoth report suggesting PM Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to dramatic concessions • Netanyahu: Report is a pile of nonsense orchestrated by Noni Mozes.

Former Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiator Dennis Ross | Photo credit: Dudi Vaaknin

Dennis Ross, the man allegedly behind the "concessions document" published by Yedioth Ahronoth over the weekend, told Israel Hayom that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "never agreed to Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders, dividing Jerusalem or the right of return." 

The document, which the Likud party claims is part of an orchestrated campaign to topple the current leadership, purports to have been presented in August 2013 and appears to detail the framework for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, suggesting a willingness by the Netanyahu-led government to make dramatic concessions. 

According to Ross, the American diplomat who mediated the talks between Israeli negotiator Isaac Molho and Palestinian negotiator Hussein Agha, which included the document in question, "I always felt the best way to [negotiate] would be in a brainstorming set of discussions that could be informal. To that end, starting before I left the administration and continuing after I left, I worked with two long-time friends of mine, Isaac Molho and Hussein Agha, with the aim of coming up with a U.S. proposal for a framework. The idea was that both sides would agree to negotiate using the U.S. proposal, while making clear that they had reservations about provisions that ran counter to their positions."

"Over the years of our discussions, we came up with many drafts both before and after August 2013 but there was not an August 2013 draft. In any event, to my regret the exercise did not succeed," Ross added. 

Earlier, Netanyahu and the Likud Party rejected the Yedioth Ahronoth report, saying that it was false and accusing Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon (Noni) Mozes of orchestrating a campaign to mislead the public. Netanyahu's associates clarified that the document in fact listed the concessions that Netanyahu would be unwilling to make, and not as the paper presented it -- a list of concessions that the government had offered the Palestinians. 

"It is a pile of nonsense," Netanyahu said at a Likud conference over the weekend. "I never agreed to divide Jerusalem, I never agreed to withdraw to 1967 borders, I never agreed to recognize the Palestinian right of return and I never agreed to give up our presence in the Jordan Valley. Never." 

The Prime Minister's Office also issued an official response, saying, "Attorney Yitzhak Molho's conversations, which were mediated by the U.S., did not yield any kind of agreement. They were done in an effort to procure an American proposal and to jump-start the peace talks while giving both sides the freedom to object to any clause they deemed unacceptable. Over the years, a large number of drafts were presented, but no agreements were reached, and even if an American draft had been presented, the prime minister declared in advance that he would object to the clauses that contradict his stance." 

The Likud party issued a response on behalf of the prime minister as well, declaring that "this is just more political drivel from Noni Mozes and Yedioth Ahronoth, with one obvious objective: to spread false claims against Prime Minister Netanyahu days before the elections, thereby diminishing the number of seats Likud will win and bringing the Left -- led by Tzipi [Livni] and [Isaac Herzog] -- to power, with the help of the Joint Arab List.

"The publication of this document is a pile of nonsense. It is a draft of an American proposal to which Netanyahu never agreed. On day one of the negotiations, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that he categorically opposes dividing Jerusalem, withdrawing to 1967 borders and recognizing the Palestinian right of return, and that he will insist on Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley. These have always been, and continue to be, the prime minister's firm views.

"In stark contrast with this outrageous publication, and contrary to the position held by Tzipi Livni (who condemned construction in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem), during the course of the negotiations and over the last six years the governments led by Netanyahu have approved the construction of thousands of housing units in Jerusalem, in the Valley and in Judea and Samaria." 

It was said further that "Noni Mozes can wave around all kinds of drafts and all kinds of American proposals that never amounted to anything, but the facts on the ground are very clear: For six years, Prime Minister Netanyahu withstood massive international pressure and didn't give up one centimeter of land, kept Jerusalem united, built thousands of housing units and maintained security and the settlement enterprise. If these distorted, tendentious reports result in the Likud party not getting enough votes and the Labor party getting more Knesset seats, the government that will arise will be a government of concessions and withdrawals led by Livni and Herzog and supported by the Joint Arab List. That is the real danger."

Likud officials remarked Saturday that the leak of the "concessions document" was probably part of the American administration's "revenge" for Netanyahu's recent speech to Congress, which the administration strongly opposed. Another possibility that was raised was that it was actually leaked by Livni's associates to further the Zionist Union's agenda. 

Netanyahu's associates pointed to remarks made by former Palestinian minister Ashraf al-Ajarmi, who told Army Radio over the weekend that "Netanyahu did in fact set conditions for continued peace talks in the last round -- no return to 1967 borders, no negotiations on east Jerusalem or on Jerusalem at all, no Israeli withdrawal from the Jordan Valley, no evacuation of most of the settlements, including the settlement blocs that everyone used to talk about. In essence, under these conditions, no Palestinian refugee could return either. These conditions prevented any progress and that is why I do not believe that what Yedioth Ahronoth reported ever really happened."

Meanwhile Saturday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) also remarked on the issue at an event in Beersheba, saying, "I knew about the negotiations and I know all the details. This was one draft that was neither adopted by us nor by the Palestinians. The Yedioth Ahronoth report was a manipulation -- I wonder what they meant by it and why they released it at this particular timing? There were six or seven different American drafts like this one over the last six years."

Remarking on Netanyahu's recent address to Congress, Ya'alon said that "the main cause of instability in the Middle East is the Iranian regime. That is the problem, not the solution, as some people contend. The Iranian threat is obviously the number one threat facing the Western world. We would have liked to confront it quietly, but unfortunately we have been placed on the front lines of this issue, and if it weren't for us no sanctions would have been imposed on Iran. The Iranians are fooling the Western world. At the conclusion of talks, the Iranians are being given core nuclear capabilities. That is why it was the prime minister's duty to go to Congress. This will be put to the test in the coming months, if Congress takes action."

Dudi Caspi, Shlomo Cesana and Gadi Golan

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=24005

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