Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

TURKOLOGIST. “IT IS USELESS TO EXPECT ANYTHING FROM TURKEY.”

December 27 2013

Ruben Safrastyan, turkologist, Director of Institute of Oriental
Studies, does not recommend expecting anything from Turkey on the eve
of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. “There is no need
to wait for something. The prognostic that Turkey could fundamentally
change its policy in recognizing the Armenian Genocide, is missing. I
do not also consider the show organized in Yerevan serious. The Turkish
Foreign minister’s interview with Turkish journalists regarding the
Armenian-Turkish relations did not say anything,” said Mr. Safrastyan,
today, at “Pastark” club. He also said that the Armenian-Turkish
relations stirred the interest of different centers around the world,
because they are driven by Turkey’s relations with other countries,
and what will be the situation in the South Caucasus.

“The current state of affairs of Karabakh works for all major centers
in the world, this is geopolitically frozen.” To the question of how
Armenia’s membership to the CU would affect the possibilities of the
Armenian-Turkish dialogue, the turkologist said, “Armenia’s accession
is of no special geopolitical importance to the world. What happened
was due to the fact that we still had a contract with Russia since
1997, we are a CSTO member, and Russia’s military bases are deployed
in Armenia. Geopolitically, no new phenomenon happened; therefore,
the situation is not changed.” Turkologist Hakob Chakryan does
not see any perspective in the Armenian-Turkish dialogue, because
“Armenian-Turkish dialogue does not exist, there would not be a
dialogue even on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. They would only try to create an impression that they
want to resume the dialogue, to create the illusion that they are
ready only to possibly lessen the effect. So, accession of failure
to join the Customs Union will not have a significant effect on the
Armenian-Turkish dialogue, or the development of relations.” In
the conversation with us, Mr. Chakryan also expressed an opinion
that the Karabakh conflict settlement is actually frozen. According
to him, there is a competition going on between the Minsk Co-chair
countries regarding the settlement of Karabakh conflict, for the sake
of influence in the South Caucasus. “Everybody is in favor of the
conflict to be settled, and depending on which country would settle
it, the influence of given country will drastically increase.”

Arpine Simonyan

Read more at:

From: Baghdasarian

PRIME MINISTER’S VOCIFEROUS STATEMENTS

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan held a press conference at the end
of the year. Editors of the mass media were invited but not all the
editors showed up. Besides, a big number of interns attended the press
conference, both on the side of the government and the mass media.

They had been invited by the government to improve their professional
skills through following the press conference.

The press conference was almost a marathon, in the spirit of Putin’s
press conferences and close to Putin’s time – four hours – though
part of it was spent on finishing technical preparations.

In terms of content, the picture of the press conference was relative,
and it would be possible to fit the interesting statements within a
shorter period.

There were some interesting statements indeed. In particular, Tigran
Sargsyan announced that in Armenia the economy was a balloon before the
crisis. This is the first such evaluation uttered by Tigran Sargsyan
who was the president of the Central Bank then. According to him,
“the economic balloon blasted” because the other spheres were not
competitive due to speculative processes in the sphere of building.

The reason of decline of direct foreign investments was decline of
speculative building sphere. Tigran Sargsyan said annually over 700
million to one billion dollars were invested in private building
before the crisis, which is a huge number that stimulates growth,
and when it is removed, decline is inevitable.

Tigran Sargsyan’s next sensational statement was the offshore scandal.

The prime minister was asked, “The press has recently reported
the activities of a Diaspora Armenian lady involved in an offshore
scandal. Nairi Mehredge is a relative of Member of Parliament Vartan
Oskanian of Prosperous Armenia Party, she set up a company called
“Assembly of Mice” in Cyprus in which she involved dead people.” The
query was made by haynews.am.

Tigran Sargsyan said he could not imagine this press conference without
a question regarding the offshore. He announced that he is interested
in disclosing the question fully. The prime minister repeated that
he has nothing to do with the offshore accounts. “The same lady who
registered an enterprise in Cyprus under my name has registered an
enterprise in Cyprus, a company under the name of dead people. I wonder
what explanations Mr. Oskanian will give, whether this is unexpected
information for him or his person is standing behind this and this
scandal has a political context,” Tigran Sargsyan said.

He called the reporters to investigate this case and find out the
truth.

Tigran Sargsyan’s next vociferous statement concerned the fight
against oligopolies. Sargsyan announced that the government’s program
for five years will succeed if competitiveness is provided in Armenia.

Without such a result the program of the government will fail, the
prime minister said.

According to him, after the economic decline following the collapse
of the Soviet Union some spheres appeared in the hands of a group
of people. On the one hand, the legislation must be made more rigid
for these people, and on the other hand, favorable climate must be
created for SMEs. Tigran Sargsyan said Armenia will have no future
without a middle class which is the basis for the civil society.

In answer to the question whether the anti-monopolistic and
anti-oligopolistic policy is effective, Tigran Sargsyan said
the reporters should assess judging by the state of things. As an
indicator, Tigran Sargsyan suggested the mass media which, according
to him, are sponsored by oligarchs. Provided that the mass media
“attack the prime minister, the government for every issue, we are on
the right way and we must finish with those issues”. And if there is
peace, no attacks, then unfortunately we are doing something wrong,
he said, advising to judge the effectiveness of oligopolies and
monopolies by these facts.

21:55 27/12/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

From: Baghdasarian

NO SIGNS OF TURKEY-ARMENIA THAW

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #717
Dec 25 2013

Turkey now says Armenia must mend fences with its other neighbour
Azerbaijan before rapprochement can happen.

By Lamiya Adilgizi, Yekaterina Poghosyan – Caucasus

If anyone was expecting Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s
trip to Armenia – the first such high-level visit in five years –
to herald an upturn in relations, they will have been disappointed.

Neither side appears ready to give ground on the key issues.

While in Yerevan on December 12 for a meeting of the Black Sea
Economic Cooperation Organisation (BSEC), Davutoglu had a two-hour
meeting with Armenia’s foreign minister Eduard Nalbandyan.

Davutoglu said Turkey wanted the relationship with Armenia to be as
good as it was with other neighbours.

He also said the unresolved conflicts in the Caucasus sapped energy
that might be better spent on economic cooperation.

“We would like Armenia to move past these frozen conflicts and to
become part of our economic projects,” he said.

Although Davutoglu did not refer explicitly to Nagorny Karabakh,
his remarks were read in Armenia as meaning that bilateral relations
could not improve before that dispute was resolved.

Karabakh has been controlled by an Armenian administration since the
war of the early 1990s, but claims to independence remain unrecognised
and the international community regards it as part of Azerbaijan.

Mediation efforts have failed to make substantive progress towards
a settlement since a 1994 truce ended open warfare between Armenian
and Azerbaijani forces.

Turkey, a close ally of post-independence Azerbaijan, closed its
border with Armenia and broke off diplomatic relations during the
war over Karabakh.

The difficult relationship between Armenia and Turkey long pre-dates
the Karabakh issue, however. The two countries are deeply divided on
whether a genocide of Armenians occurred in Ottoman Turkey in 1915.

Despite this difficult history, Ankara and Yerevan showed signs of
seeking a rapprochement some years ago. In 2008, Turkish president
Abdullah Gul paid an unprecedented visit to Armenia, and the following
year, the two countries signed accords on restoring relations
and opening the border. Neither country’s parliament ratified the
agreements, however, and the whole process ground to a halt.

As long as it lasted, the thaw caused consternation and a sense of
betrayal in Azerbaijan.

Since then, the Turkish position seems to have shifted. Senior
officials including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have said there
will no progress as long as the Karabakh conflict remains unresolved.

“Karabakh is not just Azerbaijan’s problem but also Turkey’s problem,”
Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Azerbaijan’s president
Ilham Aliyev on November 13.

Ankara was Aliyev’s first foreign destination after he was re-elected
as head of state in October.

Rober KoptaÅ~_, an ethnic Armenian Turkish journalist who was part of
the press corps that accompanied Davutoglu to Yerevan, said this now
appeared to be an immovable policy – Ankara would not now take actions
that might upset Azerbaijan. But he held out hope that progress in
the two areas could take place in parallel.

“If negotiations to resolve the Nagorny Karabakh conflict speed up
[and] at least some progress is made there… Azerbaijan would be
satisfied, and Turkey could go some way towards easing its tense
relationship with Armenia,” KoptaÅ~_, who is editor-in-chief of the
Armenian-Turkish weekly Agos, told IWPR.

In Yerevan, Ruben Safrastryan, director of Armenia’s Oriental
Institute, was less hopeful.

“We are seeing Turkey continuing to link normalisation of
Armenian-Turkish relations to the Nagorny Karabakh conflict,” he said.

“Davutoglu is using this visit as a primitive form of PR to create
the illusion that Turkey wants to revive the normalisation process,
when in reality we aren’t seeing of the kind.”

Armenian officials were tight-lipped on the Davutoglu visit, but Giro
Manoyan of the opposition Dashnaktsutyun party said Turkey was probably
trying to project itself as a peacemaker as the 100th anniversary of
the genocide approached.

“It wasn’t a Turkish minister visiting to Yerevan; he was just
participating in the BSEC meeting in Yerevan. Turkey wishes to create
the impression that you should expect something to come of Davutoglu’s
visit… but there’s no reason to believe that. Turkey does not in
fact want to normalise relations with Armenia; it’s merely trying to
create that impression,” he told IWPR.

In Azerbaijan, Leyla Aliyeva, head of the Centre for National and
International Studies, said her country’s increasing importance as
a supplier of oil and gas to Turkey gave it ever more sway over that
country’s policy towards Armenia.

“If the recent Turkish initiative covers the Nagorny Karabakh conflict,
Azerbaijan will react positively; if it doesn’t, then I doubt it,”
she told IWPR.

Lamiya Adilgizi is a correspondent for the Istanbul-based paper Today’s
Zaman. Yekaterina Poghosyan is a correspondent for Mediamax in Yerevan

From: Baghdasarian

U.S. WILL SPEND $3.35M TO ‘IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF MEDIA CONTENT’–IN ARMENIA

CNS News
Dec 18 2013

December 18, 2013 – 4:15 PM
By Barbara Hollingsworth

CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
is planning to spend $3.35 million to “improve the quality of media
content and strengthen the media’s capacity to meet professional
standards” in Armenia, according to an agency request for applications
(RFA).

No American media organizations are eligible for the grant, but
“government controlled and government owned organizations” in Armenia
are encouraged to apply even though the country is burdened by a
“powerful executive that systematically undermines nascent institutions
and agents of democratic accountability.”

“The Media for Informed Civic Engagement (MICE) is a five-year activity
that aims to increase citizen access to independent and reliable
sources of information about the Government of Armenia’s (GOAM)
policies and planned reforms, with special emphasis on USAID-supported
reforms in decentralization, transparency and accountability, and
social sector policy,” according to the RFA. (See USAUD RFA.pdf)

Under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, only “local organizations”
that are “organized under Armenian laws,” have their “principal place
of business in the Armenia,” and are “managed by a governing body,
the majority of whom are Armenian citizens….not controlled by a
foreign entity” are eligible for the grant.

However, USAID includes “government controlled and government owned
organizations in which the recipient government owns a majority
interest or in which the majority of a governing body are government
employees” under its definition of “local organizations.”

One of USAID’s goals is to “strengthen media capacity to meet
professional standards of journalism and reflect a diversity of
perspectives in reporting. As a result, journalists will be more
professional; networks of media outlets will be strengthened; and
access to credible and professionally produced information will
increase,” according to USAID’s “Armenia’s Democracy, Human Rights,
and Governance Assessment.” (See usaid armenia cdcs.pdf)

The assessment noted “the rapidly increasing level of internet
penetration and its impact on media. The increase in online news as
a source of information is prompting traditional media to cover a
wider range of issues.”

However, “the key challenge is the lack of genuine checks and
balances in the system compounded by a powerful executive that
systematically undermines nascent institutions and agents of democratic
accountability. The centralization of power leads to serious deficits
in the consistent application of the rule of law and citizens’
meaningful participation in political processes….

“Contributing to the overall challenge, agents of accountability,
including the citizenry, civic actors, and the media, are weak and
do not constitute an effective counterweight to executive power,”
the assessment stated.

After the second year of the five-year grant, USAID says it will
conduct a “mid-term external performance evaluation” to determine: 1)
the relevance of the activity vis-a-vis USAID/Armenia’s priorities;
2) the relevance of the approach in the current Armenian context;
and 3) the performance of the implementer.”

From: Baghdasarian

SEEC TO DISCUSS ROADMAP FOR ARMENIA’S ENTRY INTO CUSTOMS UNION – RUSSIAN PRESIDENT

Voice of Russia
Dec 24 2013

The Supreme Eurasian Economic Council (SEEC) will debate a roadmap for
Armenia’s planned accession to the Customs Union, formed by Russia,
Belarus and Kazakhstan, at its session on Tuesday.

0″Our integration project is interesting and holds appeal for many
partners in the CIS due to objective economic reasons. As we know,
Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have not only expressed their wish to become
its participants, but have already accomplished a significant amount
of work in this direction. A roadmap outlining further steps as part
of Armenia’s accession will be put up for debate today. A similar
document concerning Kyrgyzstan is currently being negotiated,” Russian
President Vladimir Putin said at the SEEC session in the Kremlin.

From: Baghdasarian

PRESS RELEASE
Policy Forum Armenia
1250 I (Eye) Street N.W., Suite 710,
Washington, DC, 20005
Email: [email protected]

Dear Friends:

Our homeland has been through a great deal of ordeal in the passing
year. Fraudulent presidential elections, massive protests, rising
emigration, the misguided commitment to join the Russia-led Customs
Union, and mass arrests of activists protesting Russia’s Vladimir
Putin’s visit to Armenia have all contributed to that. The economy has
slowed down significantly and recorded practically no growth in the
second and third quarters of 2013 compared to the same periods a year
ago. According to the official statistics, one in every three Armenian
residents lives in poverty. Unofficial estimates are much higher. In
the meantime, the ruling regime continues to control in excess of an
estimated 60 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

Although this may have been one of the worse years for Armenia since
independence, we have much reason for enthusiasm. The civil society is
stronger than at any point before. Those on the barricades are
determined to not only force the regime to leave but are also eager to
build institutional foundations for a freer and independent
Armenia. Our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora today are better
informed about the conditions on the ground in Armenia and the true
factors behind the misery and devastation observed outside of downtown
Yerevan. As never before we are united with the understanding that
with hard and persistent work we can turn Armenia into a country that
we all could be proud of and will one day return to live.

We believe we have contributed to this positive message. By visiting
our website you can see that with only modest resources (coming mostly
from our members) we have been able to maintain a high level of
analytical output and inform our stakeholders of the true problems
faced by people of Armenia and the country itself. Only when you have
the right diagnosis you can expect to find the right cure for the
illness. We are the only organization in the Diaspora that produces
consistent and professional output on completely volunteer basis
without being paid for what we do.

Highlights of our 2013 effort are as follows:

· Election Research: within days from Armenia’s presidential election
on February 18, 2013, PFA issued its analysis of the election outcome
using statistical and econometric methodology and helped reveal
massive fraud in favor of the incumbent.

· International Relations: In May 2013, PFA joined forces with the
United States Atlantic Council to hold a high level round-table
discussion with Washington-based senior experts on Armenia’s relations
with NATO.

· Post-election Developments: In June 2013, jointly with the George
Washington University Law School and Elliot School of International
Affairs, PFA hosted Armenian presidential candidate Raffi Hovannisian
for a conversation on foreign and domestic policy, and to hear his
views of the political and civil society development in Armenia.

· Diaspora: In August 2013, we hosted a discussion on the conditions
of Armenians in Syria by Arménag Aprahamian, the President of
Paris-based National Council of Armenians from Western Armenia, an
organization accredited by the United Nations to represent the
indigenous people of Western Armenia.

· Economic and Social Issues: In October 2013, we released our third
State of the Nation Report on `Corruption in Armenia’ where we focused
on wholesale and retail corruption and offered mechanisms of reducing
the cancer of corruption in Armenia.

· Environment: Subsequently we hosted a group of environmental
activists and scientists, who brought to the US a documentary showing
the extent of desecration caused by open mining in Armenia’s Southern
Syuniq region.

· Institutional Development: we are extremely fortunate to have been
able to put together a world-class Academic Board, which serves as the
main quality-controller of our research, and receive a 501(c)3
tax-exempt status from the US Internal Revenue Service.

However, there is one area that leaves more to desire this holiday
season. It is the knowledge that we could have doubled the amount of
work we do to benefit Armenia and its people if only we had slightly
more financial resources at our disposal. Therefore, please consider
making a tax-deductible donation to enable us to continue to serve our
mandate of providing independent, high-quality analysis of issues of
true concern for Armenia today and tomorrow. A nation without a
forward-oriented think-tank is bound to remain on the sidelines of
history and is unlikely to make the jump forward that we are all
dreaming about.

In closing, we would like to thank you for staying engaged with
Armenia and with us. We wish you all Happy Holidays! May the New Year
bring joy and new opportunities for Armenia, its residents, and every
Armenian around the world.

Sincerely Yours,

Management and Fellows of Policy Forum Armenia

From: Baghdasarian

YOUNG STELLA GETS TRANSPLANT

COMMUNITY | DECEMBER 23, 2013 3:39 PM

CLEVELAND – The Armenian Mirror-Spectator first reported on the case
of Stella Arakelian in August. Arakelian, 17, is a native of Armenia
in Cleveland to receive treatement for cancer at the Cleveland Clinic.

She and her mother, Irena, have been adopted by the local Armenian
community, under the aegis of St. Gregory of Narek Church and its
pastor, Rev. Hratch Sargsyan.

The community, through St. Gregory of Narek Church and its pastor, Fr.

Hratch Sargsyan, is rallying behind Stella Arakelyan, 17, a leukemia
patient from Armenia, has been receiving care at the Cleveland Clinic
since May. Stella is accompanied by her mother, Iren.

The teenager had been diagnosed in Armenia with leukemia. Her family
was devastated as the young Stella had already been fighting diabetes
since age 10.

Doctors treating her at the Cleveland Clinic with monthly chemotherapy
had told the family that Stella’s best chance for beating the cancer
was by receiving a bone marrow transplant. Against all odds, she
found a match earlier this fall and had her surgery on November 8.

The costs, of course, are staggering and well beyond the finances of
the family.

Sargsyan said this past week, “We still continue the fundraising. So
far we have raised over $20,000, plus $10,000 was raised in Armenia.

We had a meeting with Cleveland Clinic staff and assured them on our
continued efforts with fund raising. It was rather an emotional day
for all of the people present in the room; there some tears and hugs
and silent moments. The Cleveland Clinic staff present at that meeting
assured that no matter how fast the fundraising goes that will not
affect the clinical treatment for Stella. It was a big relief for
her mom Irena to hear that.”

Sargsyan said that according to the hospital’s tradition, the medical
staff sang Happy Transplant Day to You for the teen. Among those
singers was her doctor, Rabi Hanna.

The prognosis seems positive. “So far she is doing okay. She even
started to show some signs of success as the reproduction of new
blood cells goes,” Sargsyan said. “We still need people’s support
with prayers and finances because there will be more bills coming as
the treatment continues after she is discharged. We also take this
opportunity to thank all those who responding to the prompting that
God has put in their hearts and considered making a kind donation or
send a heart warming note/prayer or both for Stella. We thank you in
advance if you consider making a donation in this blessed session of
sharing and giving.

Your tax deductible donations can be made online, or send a check made
out to St. Gregory of Narek, memo line: Stella Fund, 678 Richmond Rd.,
Richmond Heights, OH 44143.

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

ALMA CHANGES NAME TO ARMENIAN MUSEUM OF AMERICA, INC.

ALMA, ARTS, MASS. | DECEMBER 23, 2013 3:34 PM

WATERTOWN – As of December 24, the Armenian Library and Museum of
America (ALMA) will drop a couple of words from its name and add a
few: it will now be known as the Armenian Museum of America, Inc.,
in recognition of its preeminent function as a museum.

“By this change, this institution will be known for its uniquely
distinct role as probably the largest Armenian museum outside of
Armenia. We continue to enhance the holdings of our expanding adjunct
research library named for the late Mesrop Boyajian,” wrote Haig Der
Manuelian, the ALMA board chairman.

ALMA was founded in 1971, with the dream of capturing and presenting
the 3,000-year-old Armenain heritage which has survived against
serious odds to people within the community or those outside.

“Those of us then involved saw our mission to honor our ancestors and
the victims of the Armenian Genocide by creating a permanent, living
memorial library and museum. At that time, we expected significant
acquisitions mostly for our intended library while hoping against
hope possibly for a modest number of artifacts. For that reason,
when we decided upon a name for our organization, the word ‘Library’
preceded the word ‘Museum,'” DerManuelian added.

In 1996, Dr. James Russell, the Mashdots Professor of Armenian
Studies at Harvard University, wrote, in part, describing ALMA’s
collections: “Over all, it is perhaps the most important Armenian
museum collection after the Armenian State Historical Museum in
Yerevan and the collections of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem
in Israel.” By then, the museum’s holdings had multiplied “beyond our
wildest expectations – including eclectic major collections from the
Bedoukian Families, numerous inscribed Armenian rugs from the late
Arthur T.

Gregorian, Kutahya tiles from the Karabians, among so many other gifts
generously donated to build our collections,” Der Manuelian noted.

He added that recent collections have been even more impressive.

Within the past four years, ALMA has acquired the Yousuf Karsh
collection of photographic portraiture, post-Soviet Armenian paintings
from the famed Norton Dodge Collection, the Berj Garabedian Metal
Arts Collection and the Almasian Family Map Collection, and numerous
other accessions. The museum has more than 20,000 objects and the
Mesrop Boyajian Research Library has more than 27,000 titles.

ALMA has mounted three major travel exhibits, “Who Are the Armenians,”
the “Gamavor Exhibit” and the “The Ongoing Armenian Genocide: Death,
Denial & Desecration.” The Gamavor Exhibit is currently being
translated for a tour of France. The Genocide Exhibit was shown
primarily in various non-Armenian sites including an eight-month
showing at the Virginia Holocaust Museum, the third largest such museum
in the United States. That Holocaust Museum was impressed sufficiently
as to seek to develop its own permanent Armenian Genocide Exhibit.

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA RATIFIES RUSSIAN GAS DEAL DESPITE PROTESTS

Voice of America
Dec 23 2013

The Armenian parliament has ratified a controversial natural gas
agreement with Russia, despite widespread protests by the opposition.

Ruling party lawmakers backed ratification of the deal in a vote Monday
which was boycotted by members of the country’s opposition factions.

Hundreds gathered outside parliament in Yerevan to protest the deal.

Under the agreement, the Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom will
gain full control of Armenia’s natural gas distribution company
ArmRosgazprom. Gazprom previously owned 80 percent of the company
and now receives the remaining 20 percent of shares.

Gazprom will also control all of Armenia’s gas imports until 2043.

Armenia’s Energy Minister Armen Movsisian has said previously that
the deal will clear debts Armenia owes to Russia for gas it has
already accumulated.

Critics accuse Russia of increasing pressure on Armenia, Ukraine and
other former Soviet republics to shun trade deals with the European
Union in favor of closer alliances with Moscow.

Protests erupted in Kyiv last month when Ukrainian President
Viktor Yanukovych scuttled a European Union trade deal in favor of
strengthening economic ties – including a gas deal – with Russia.

Russia is Armenia’s largest trading partner with bilateral trade
reaching nearly $1.2 billion last year.

From: Baghdasarian

Arab League rejects U.S. proposal for Middle East peace deal

December 21, 2013 – 21:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Arab League said it rejects a continued Israeli
troop presence on the eastern border of a future state of Palestine, a
proposal Palestinians say was floated by the U.S. earlier this month,
the Associated Press reports.

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said Saturday, Dec 21, no peace deal
would work with Israeli presence in a Palestinian state.

Palestinian officials said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry proposed
Israel control Palestine’s future border with Jordan for at least 10
years to address Israeli concerns about a potential influx of
militants and weapons.

Aides to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have criticized the plan.
One aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to discuss the negotiations, said Saturday the Palestinians
are trying to soften the proposal to shorten the span of any Israeli
withdrawal.

From: Baghdasarian