CAIRO: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has drawn up an interim peace deal for a Palestinian state on up to 50 percent of West Bank land, reported Israel's Haaretz on Sunday. The number is far below Palestinian demands. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters the idea of an interim deal is “entirely rejected.” Speaking on Israel Army Radio, Erekat referred dismissively to the reported plan as Lieberman's “new invention.” Haaretz quoted a senior source in the Foreign Ministry as describing Lieberman's proposal as a “pre-emptive strike” before any wider international recognition of a Palestinian state throughout the West Bank, captured by Israel in a 1967 war. With U.S.-brokered peace talks at a standstill, Israel has been alarmed in the past two months by a string of recognitions of a Palestinian state by Latin American states, including Brazil and Argentina. Lieberman's plan, which outlines temporary borders of a state on 45 to 50 percent of West Bank territory, includes a network of roads that would cut through Israeli-held areas to connect Palestinian towns, the report said. It does not call for the removal of any Israeli settlements, the newspaper added. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an interim deal could result if no agreement could be reached on major issues at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. BM
