A peace plan offered by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that would see 93 per cent of the West Bank handed to the Palestinians was this week dismissed by both President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli media.
Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Mr Abbas, said the plan - which would also give the Palestinians land in the Negev adjacent to Gaza, equalling 5.5 per cent of the territory retained - was "lacking seriousness". It did not specify that Jerusalem would be the capital of the Palestinian state, he said, and there would be no land connection between Gaza and the West Bank.
With Mr Olmert considered a "lame duck" premier and the plan contingent on the Palestinian Authority regaining control of the Gaza Strip from Hamas, the Israeli media also failed to take the offer seriously. The country's two largest newspapers, Maariv and Yediot Ahronoth, and the major TV news bulletins did not even mention Israel's offer.
