Barak’s proposals
Barak’s proposals were a far cry from “wildly generous” concessions to Palestinian aspirations. His offer would not have provided a viable basis for a Palestinian state, but rather the framework for an Arab ghetto dependent on and subordinate to Israel.
The Oslo Accords were based on the Palestinians having recognised Israeli sovereignty over 78 percent of historic Palestine on the assumption that the Palestinians would be able to exercise sovereignty over the remaining 22 percent. In contrast, Barak’s supposed generosity at Camp David amounted to a rejection of United Nations Resolutions 242 and 338, which had been accepted as the basis for the Oslo Accords of 1993.
Amongst the most pertinent facts regarding his offer are the following:
* Barak’s proposal divided Palestine into four separate cantons surrounded by Israel: the Northern West Bank, the Central West Bank, the Southern West Bank and Gaza. A network of Israeli-controlled highways and military posts would in turn, divide these cantons. It would make no part of Palestine contiguous and put Israelis in charge of both the movement of people and goods, internally and externally, thus ensuring the subordination of the Palestinian economy to its more powerful neighbour.
* Israel sought to annex almost nine percent of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and in exchange offered only one percent of Israel’s own territory.
