Samuel Bartholin

Yes, I don't know about the Kochav Yair story (maybe this map was released in the Palestine Papers, it would actually be interesting to check), but on the overall numbers it seems to match. This interview is actually a great example of the kind of obfuscation people engage in to sell the "Israel had no partner" story. He starts by repeating the usual line that the Palestinians never made a counteroffer, but then much later admits that in fact the Palestinians did present "some sort of map". So why when the Israelis present a map it's an "offer", but when the Palestinians do it's not a "counteroffer"? Again, there is no reason, other than the desire to sell the "Israel has no partner" story. Even when he does end up admitting the Palestinians presented a map, he tries to suggest that somehow they didn't really, starting by claiming that the Palestinians didn't present a map "at all" until Taba, a claim that he immediately contradicts himself by admitting that they presented "some sort of map" at Camp David. What made the Israeli map simply "a map" but the Palestinian map "some sort of map"? Nothing of course, it's just a rhetorical trick to misleadingly create the impression of some kind of asymmetry between the Israeli and Palestinian willingness to negotiate. To be clear, I understand that the Israelis thought the Palestinian map was a joke, but the Palestinians similarly thought the Israeli map was a joke! The difference is that the Palestinian view is supported by both international law and basic morality, whereas the Israeli view is supported by neither.