Abbas says he rejected Olmert peace offer in 2008 over unseen map

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said that he rejected a peace deal offered by former Israeli Prime Minister in 2008 because he was not allowed to study an important map of Jerusalem that detailed part of the plan.

Abbas made the comments during an interview with Israel's Channel 10, during which he explained why the offer that included placing Jerusalem’s Old City under international control was rejected.

Olmert was also interviewed by the channel and said that he had offered a near-total withdrawal from the West Bank.

Both men described the negotiations in 2008 as serious and said a peace deal was achievable back then.

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Israel and the Palestinians "have never been this close" to a peace deal, Olmert said at the time. Though the two sides met regularly after a seven-year hiatus in negotiations, the talks stalled over the issue of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.

Israeli-Palestinians tensions, always simmering, have surged recently in a wave of Palestinian knife and gun attacks, as well as clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

The most recent attempt to resolve the conflict collapsed in April 2014 amid bitter recriminations on both sides.

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“I told him, ‘Remember my words, it will be 50 years before there will be another Israeli prime minister that will offer you what I am offering you now. Don’t miss this opportunity,'” Olmert said in the interview.

Olmert discussed his plan for territorial swaps and an offer to withdraw from Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem and place the Old City under international control.

Abbas said he supported the idea of territorial swaps, but that Olmert pressed him into agreeing to the plan without allowing him to study the proposed map.

“He showed me a map. He didn’t give me a map,” Abbas said. “He told me, ‘This is the map’ and took it away. I respected his point of view, but how can I sign on something that I didn’t receive?”