Israel to negotiate pre-1967 borders

IN a dramatic policy shift, Israel’s prime minister has agreed to negotiate the borders of a Palestinian state based on the ceasefire line that marks off the West Bank, a TV station reported yesterday.

Up to now, Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to spell out his plan for negotiating the border. A senior Israeli official would not confirm outright that the prime minister was now willing to adopt the ceasefire line as a starting point, but said Israel was willing to try new formulas to restart peace talks based on a proposal made by President Barack Obama.

In May, Obama proposed negotiations based on the pre-1967 line with agreed swaps of territory between Israel and a Palestinian state.