RAMALLAH, West Bank, 11 April 2008 — A Palestinian source said yesterday that the final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) over Jerusalem would be postponed by five years.

The source told daily Yediot Ahronot that according to a new US proposal discussed by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qorei, discussion on the refugee issue would also be delayed by a few years.

According to other Palestinian sources, the two sides are expected to reach an agreement by the end of the year that would not include the issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

The agreement would be a temporary one, valid for five years, during which the PA would be allowed to provide various services to the Palestinian residents in Jerusalem.

Israel and the PA revived the final status peace talks at the Annapolis conference in November. However, the settlement issue and military escalation between the two sides dimmed the prospects of a peace agreement before US President George W. Bush leaves office.

Control over Jerusalem, which Israel captured during the June 1967 War, has been the most sensitive issue of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians are seeking to set up a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. But the Jewish state says the city is its eternal capital.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday that Israel plans to set terms for negotiations with the Palestinians and will not compromise on them.

Yediot newspaper said that the new proposal has been presented to Israel and the Palestinians by US mediators, and that the two sides have been discussing it in recent weeks. While both sides are reluctant to accept the proposal, a source involved in the talks said that American pressure may force them to do so.

The Palestinian source further said that while the delay in resolving the issues of Jerusalem and refugees mainly serves Israel’s interests, it would also enable Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to present the Palestinian public with a treaty, thus helping restore the public’s faith in negotiations.

The Palestinians would agree to this move, he added, only if they are given assurances by Israel concerning troop withdrawal from the West Bank, a just solution to the water issue and release of around 11,000 prisoners.

If talks move in this direction, the Palestinians are expected to speed up preparations for opening PA and Palestine Liberation Organization institutions in Jerusalem. However, Palestinian officials would refrain from holding diplomatic meetings in Jerusalem, so not to embarrass Israel, the source concluded.

Qorei reportedly said the Palestinians would reject any attempt to postpone negotiations on a final status agreement on Jerusalem.

Hatem Abdulqader, adviser to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad for Jerusalem affairs, rejected the US proposal saying that the PA “will not accept any delay in discussing this core issue.” He questioned: “If we want to delay the issue of Jerusalem, what is then left for peace talks.”

Eli Yishai, chairman of religious party Shas, said in response to the report that “the moment there is any change in the state of Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem, Shas will quit the government.” According to Yishai, Israel should resist American pressure and reject the initiative.

Meanwhile, the left was also critical of the reported plan. MK Ophir Pines-Paz of Labor party said that the proposal was merely a façade. “It is only the beginning, and I don’t believe any headway will be made in respect to the core issues,” said Pines-Paz.

Ran Cohen of Meretz-Yahad party added that “this is a grave turn of events if the reports are true.”

“There can be no peace accord without an agreement on Jerusalem. Postponing talks on Jerusalem can only lead to disaster and more wars, “ said Cohen.

In another development, four of the 13 Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members who had escaped from a PA prison in the West Bank city of Nablus last week voluntarily returned to jail yesterday, after receiving assurances that their living conditions would be improved.