Page "Ehud Olmert" Paragraph 32

During the talks, Olmert agreed that Israel would share Jerusalem as the joint capital of Israel and a Palestinian state and hand over its holy sites to a multinational committee, land swaps that would allow Israel to keep its major settlement blocs in the West Bank, the construction of a tunnel connecting the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and a demilitarized Palestinian state with an American-led international security force stationed on the Palestinian – Jordanian border.

Both sides disagreed over how much land would be exchanged in the swaps, with Olmert demanding at least 5. 9 % of the West Bank and Abbas offering 1. 9 %.

According to the " Palestine Papers ," Israel and the Palestinians agreed that Israel would accept 10, 000 refugees.

In his memoirs, Olmert wrote that he agreed Israel would generously compensate the remaining refugees.

Olmert later stated that U. S. President George W. Bush offered to accept another 100, 000 refugees as American citizens if a peace agreement was signed.

However, U. S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in her memoirs that the Palestinians demanded they be allowed to negotiate additional " returns " to Israel following a peace agreement, insisting that the right of return was a matter of individual choice that would have to apply to every refugee.

In his memoirs, Olmert claimed that he and Abbas were very close to an agreement, but Abbas ' hesitation, Olmert's legal troubles, and the Gaza War caused the talks to end.

President Bush wrote in his memoirs that the talks broke down when Olmert announced that he would resign from office, and Abbas refused to finalize an agreement or continue the talks on the grounds that he did not want to sign a peace deal with a prime minister on his way out of office.