Abbas admits: 'I rejected Israeli offer of PA state'

Nov 22, 2015, 1:08 AM (GMT+2)

For the first time, Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas has admitted that he rejected "out of hand" an Israeli offer for a PA state on nearly 95% of Judea and Samaria.

In 2008, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to agree to the creation of an independent PA state including all of Gaza, nearly all of Judea/Samaria, and parts of Israel – a total area equal to 99.5% of the size of Judea and Samaria. In addition, a tunnel would connect Judea/Samaria to Gaza, and the PA state would have its capital in eastern Jerusalem. Not only that: Olmert also agreed to the return of 5,000 Arab refugees from the 1948 War of Independence over five years.