ten essential facts of israel part 1

1. In the summer of 2000, Israel offered the Palestinian Arabs 97 percent of the land they claim to be fighting for, making Israel the first and only country ever to offer the Palestinian Arabs a homeland. This offer was rejected with no counter-offer from the Palestinians.
At the urging of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, U.S. President Clinton announced on July 5, 2000, his invitation to Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to come to Camp David to continue their negotiations on the Middle East peace process.
On July 11, the Camp David 2000 Summit convened.
Barak's offer to the Palestinians was the most substantial and far-reaching that had ever been made. In Israel, people were stunned by the extent of the concessions that he was prepared to make. It is unclear whether the Israeli public were prepared to support Barak's deal. However they were never given the opportunity to endorse the proposals, as Arafat rejected them out of hand. According to media reports, Barak's offer included:
* Israeli withdrawal from 95 percent of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and 100 percent of the Gaza Strip
* The creation of a Palestinian state in those areas
* The removal of isolated settlements that would be transferred to Palestinian control
* Slices of Israeli land to be included in the Palestinian state to compensate for the percentage of the West Bank to become Israeli
* Palestinian control over parts of Jerusalem including most of the Old City
* "Religious Sovereignty" over the Temple Mount (rather than Israeli sovereignty, which had been in effect since 1967)
President Clinton, and others who participated, put the blame for the failure of the talks squarely on Arafat and the Palestinian negotiators for declining and not making any counteroffers or continuing the negotiation.
Dig deeper into this issue here and here.