Peres: Israel Has No Claim to West Bank
Peres, in a speech after meetings with Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, said "time is short'' - no more than four months - for Israel to come to terms with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.
"The opening is not for a long time,'' he said at a dinner sponsored by the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation, a dovish private group.
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Israel must give up all of the land that it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, he said. "If you keep 10 percent of the land you keep 100 percent of the conflict,'' Peres said.
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His prescription for a pullback includes gradual withdrawal from the West Bank after Israel gives up all of Gaza to the Palestinians. "It is not a political decision, it is a moral decision,'' Peres said.
He said Israel should provide the Palestinians with a state that is viable and contiguous.
Barry Schweid/Guardian UK Feb.24.04
