Palestinians want airport, hotels and natural gas

A West Bank airport and a permit to search for natural gas off Gaza are among Palestinians demands as part of renewed peace talks, Ynetnews.com reported. As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepared to wrap up his sixth visit to the region in ongoing efforts to jump start peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, western sources showed Ynetnews a list of demands Palestinians intend to make if negotiations resume. The Palestinians want to build an airport in the West Bank city of Ramallah, build hotels along the Dead Sea shore and be allowed to search for natural gas off the shores of the Gaza Strip, the sources told the Israeli website. Al-Hayat newspaper reported Kerry hopes to announce the official resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinians before his return to Washington. Sources in the Palestinian embassy in Amman told the Arabic daily significant progress has been made in talks between Kerry and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinian president is due to meet with other Palestinian leaders in Ramallah to discuss Kerry's efforts, Israel Radio said. In the past, Israel allowed the Palestinians to build an airport in the Gaza Strip but destroyed it during the Second Intifada because of terrorist activities. The Palestinians say an airport will not only aid in boosting tourism, but will also serve to enhance the economy. The Western sources told Ynetnews if Israel agrees to permit the Palestinians to build hotels along the Dead Sea, an area under exclusive Israeli control, it will have to change the status and reassign the lands so they would be under Palestinian municipal control and Israel's military control. (The Oslo Accords required areas in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley to be divided into three areas: those under total Palestinian control, those where Israel maintains security control and the Palestinians municipal control, and a third under total Israeli control). The Palestinians also want Israel to allow them to search for natural gas off Gaza's shores, Western sources told Ynetnews.com.