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Palestinian Authority Dismisses Israeli Peace Proposal
(Telegraph-UK) Phoebe Greenwood and Adrian Blomfield - Israeli officials say they are prepared to accept a package to be proposed by the U.S. and its negotiating partners under which talks for the creation of a Palestinian state would be based on the 1967 ceasefire lines. Israel insists, however, that adjustments would have to be made to allow it to annex some of its larger settlements in the West Bank in exchange for land in Israel. The Palestinians have conducted negotiations on that basis in the past. Officials in Jerusalem have said that the offer only stands if the Palestinians are prepared to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and retract their application for recognition of an independent Palestinian state, which is to be submitted to the UN General Assembly next month. The Palestinian Authority has dismissed this potential Israeli concession on the future borders of a Palestinian state as a ploy, dealing a setback to hopes for a swift resumption of peace talks. "What I have read so far is a masterpiece of PR and linguistics," said Saeb Erekat, a leading Palestinian negotiator.