| JERUSALEM -- The Palestinian
Authority is dropping a demand for the right of return for refugees --
one of the most contentious issues blocking a Middle East peace deal --
and is making other major concessions on peace with Israel in a two-page
document sent to the United States, Palestinian officials said Wednesday
The officials said the document, given to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, includes concessions on a number of key issues that caused previous peace efforts to fail. Most significantly, the Palestinians said, they have dropped the demand for right of return for refugees who fled or were removed from land that became Israel in 1948. Instead, they said, they are calling for a just and agreed-upon solution to that problem. Israel has always rejected that demand. If all the Palestinian refugees and their descendants returned, the Israelis have said, there would be so many Palestinians living in Israel that the nation would change from a Jewish state to a Palestinian state. On other issues, the Palestinians said they are no longer calling for a formal military in any future Palestinian state, just a state with "limited arms." And on the issue of territory, they are calling for a return to the 1967 borders with minor agreed modifications. They reiterate their claim to East Jerusalem as a capital, with West Jerusalem as the capital for Israel. A Palestinian official told CNN the concessions
represent a major breakthrough since the last round of talks, which were
held at Taba in Egypt after failed talks at Camp David, Maryland.
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