PLO Claims 1967 Land Swap Is Heresay--And Here Is Where They Said It!

Let's put aside for the moment that due to Abbas's refusal to sit down with Netanyahu--there are no talks.

According to Gulfnews.com, the PLO is now saying that any peace agreement with Israel will not include land swaps:

The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) announced on Monday that it will very soon drop the "land swap" formula, which the it branded as a grave mistake that was included in any agreement with Israel.

Speaking to Gulf News, Tayseer Khalid, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said that the formula was only mere talk by Israelis and mediators. "We have never signed an agreement with Israel, which states any shape of land swap formula," he added. "Land swap formula is a heresay in the track of negotiations," he said.

It's not that there hasn't been talk of land swaps in addition to using the 1967 lines as boundaries--it's just that the PLO doesn't feel it has obligated itself to such swaps.

But the funny thing is: the PLO itself has clearly stated it would swap land in addition to the 1967 lines:

The Palestinian Authority passed on four official demands to the Mideast Quartet for discussion in upcoming meetings, PLO official Saeb Erekat told Saudi newspaper Al-Watan on Friday.

European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton told the PA's leadership Friday that the Quartet would convene in July for ministerial level talks to discuss relaunching the peace process. Quartet envoys are scheduled to meet Friday.

Erekat said the demands included a complete halt to all Israeli settlement activity, 1967 borders as the basis for peace negotiations with mutually agreed land swaps, EU support for reconciliation talks "which will strengthen peace opportunities" and EU support for a Palestinian UN statehood bid in September.

Erekat did not say this to the English media where Erekat might just be placating the West, but to the Saudi press--in Arabic to the Arab world.

It's kind of late for the PLO to backtrack and say that the land swap is just heresay.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Palestine and Peace Talks.