What are the main issues at stake in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process?
Borders and settlements The PLO claim the West Bank and the Gaza Strip within pre-1967 borders for their state. Israel has accepted in principle the vision articulated by President Bush in 2002, of the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel and Israeli withdrawal to ‘secure and recognised borders’, in line with UN Resolutions 242 and 338. There is a broad consensus in Israel that the larger settlement blocs around Jerusalem and on key strategic points protecting Israel’s narrow coastal plain should remain part of Israel. The Clinton Proposals in 2000 and the unofficial Geneva Accords in 2003 accepted this principle and suggested some form of land swap whereby the new Palestinian state would receive other territory from Israel in return for the settlement blocs. The Palestinians also want territory within Israel to build a transport link that connects Gaza and the West Bank, and this could form part of an exchange deal. Security Israel’s recent experience of withdrawing from t
