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February 26, 2002
JERUSALEM -- Israel said Monday it is exploring with interest a tentative Saudi proposal that calls for an Israeli pullout from virtually all the territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East War in return for comprehensive peace.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has fiercely opposed a total pullout. But with many Israelis despondent over 17 months of conflict, the Saudi proposal offers two things Israel craves: broad acceptance by Arab states and a negotiating partner beyond Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
The Palestinians, Egypt and Jordan have welcomed the Saudi idea, and Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday it was an important step he hoped would be fleshed out in the next few weeks.
Sharon's spokesman, Raanan Gissin, said Israel was "trying to find out through the United States and other sources ... if this is a real proposal."
"If indeed a reasonable offer is presented ... that will guarantee not just that Israel gives back territory but that real, true normalization will develop -- I think you can restore the confidence in peace because most of the people want peace," Gissin said.
Details of the Saudi proposal remained sketchy, but its components appear to be similar to a proposal made last year by former President Bill Clinton and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Barak proposed a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and more than 90 percent of the West Bank, with a foothold in East Jerusalem. Arafat held out for more land and a "right of return" for war refugees, which Israel feared could bring millions of Palestinians into its territory.
Talks broke down amid violence that has to date killed nearly 1,300 people.
Gissin said Israel wanted to know the current Saudi position on refugees and Jerusalem.
Gideon Meir, a top Foreign Ministry official, said the prime concern was whether a deal would include not just Palestinian but Arab League support. "The highlight is that Arab world will embrace it," he said.
In violence Monday:
A Palestinian gunman opened fire on Israelis at a bus stop in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem, wounding eight people before officers shot him dead.
In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian as he drove his pregnant wife to a hospital; a Palestinian girl was shot dead as she charged a checkpoint; and Palestinians ambushed an Israeli car at another checkpoint, killing two men and seriously wounding a pregnant woman. Both pregnant women later gave birth to healthy babies.