Barak's Legacy: The Myth of the "Generous Offer"
"Many American and Israeli officials who were present during the Camp David summit have worked long and hard to debunk this version of events yet Barak' s version still holds sway. But many are coming to see Barak as a politician who plays on the worst fears of his constituency simply to present his own failures in a more favorable light. Barak's offer, in fact, proposed a Palestinian state that would have been fractured by Israeli settlement blocs and bypass roads that would have made life for Palestinians extremely difficult. It gave Palestinians no common border with any Arab state, very limited sovereignty in Jerusalem and equally limited control of the scant but crucial water resources of the West Bank. And, perhaps most important of all, this offer was presented to Arafat as a "take it or leave it" proposal, as both Barak and Clinton made it clear that Israel would go no further than this offer. In addition, because Barak built even more settlements than his right-wing predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, it was even more difficult for Arafat to accept his "generous offer." "

Barak's Legacy: The Myth of the "Generous Offer"
"Many American and Israeli officials who were present during the Camp David summit have worked long and hard to debunk this version of events yet Barak' s version still holds sway. But many are coming to see Barak as a politician who plays on the worst fears of his constituency simply to present his own failures in a more favorable light. Barak's offer, in fact, proposed a Palestinian state that would have been fractured by Israeli settlement blocs and bypass roads that would have made life for Palestinians extremely difficult. It gave Palestinians no common border with any Arab state, very limited sovereignty in Jerusalem and equally limited control of the scant but crucial water resources of the West Bank. And, perhaps most important of all, this offer was presented to Arafat as a "take it or leave it" proposal, as both Barak and Clinton made it clear that Israel would go no further than this offer. In addition, because Barak built even more settlements than his right-wing predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, it was even more difficult for Arafat to accept his "generous offer." "