Peres confirms West Bank 'convergence' on tablePDFPrintE-mail
Israel
Written by Chris Perver  
Sunday, 21 January 2007 17:00
Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres backed up the idea that Prime Minister Olmert's ill-fated "convergence" plan could be resurrected. This is an article from December of last year, which I found on the internet while searching for more details of the West Bank disengagement. The former Prime Minister, who unofficially has his eyes on the Presidency of Israel, has stated that the Israelis and Palestinians now have an opportunity to agree on dividing the land.  

Quote: "Olmert and Abbas reached a series of concessions during the meeting, which marked the first substantial talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in 22 months. Regarding the meeting, Peres was quoted by Israel Radio as saying on Sunday that it is an opportunity to revive the " convergence" plan, which seemed to be shelved after the month-long Israel-Hezbollah conflict in summer. Olmert vowed before the March 28 election to set Israel's final borders by 2010 and the new government would be based on his so- called "convergence" plan, under which Israel would withdraw isolated settlements in the West Bank but keep bigger ones.

Peres also made an interesting remark today, stating that there are three main issues, borders, refugees and Jerusalem, and that the two sides are close to an agreement on the disengagement from Judea and Samaria, and around ninety percent of the land will be handed over to the Palestinian Authority.

Quote: "Addressing the conflict with the Palestinians, Peres said that the three main problems were borders, Jerusalem and the refugees. "On the border issue we are close to reaching a solution, as we have agreed to return 90 percent of the West Bank territories. On the refugee issue, Israel has told the Arab world that there is nothing to talk about, and even the Saudi document does not talk about the right of return anymore. Regarding Jerusalem, there are things that everyone agrees about and there are additional issues that have to be discussed."

I've stated this before, but for the benefit of those who are new, Shimon Peres has a very interesting name. Shimon, or Simeon means "to hearken", and "Peres" means "division". In the Bible, names are very important, and often describe the character of the person to whom they are given, for example, Abram (exalted father) and Abraham (father of a multitude), Saul (a haughty one) and Paul (a little one), Simon (a small pebble) and Peter (a stone). I have speculated before that Shimon Peres, due to his unique name, may end up becoming instrumental in the division of God's land, which thing He hates.

Source People's Daily Online, YNet News

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