The statement made by the Qatari prime and foreign minister in Washington in favor of adding a clause to the Arab Peace Initiative allowing for "land swaps"  caught many off guard and drew a largely negative reaction in Palestinian and Arab circles.

On the surface, the statement by Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani of Qatar in the presence of US Secretary of State John Kerry, the Arab League delegation (including the Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki) didn’t seem like a problem. Hamad said: “The Arab League delegation affirmed that agreement should be based on the two-state solution on the basis of the 4th of June 1967 line, with the possible of comparable and mutual agreed minor swap of the land.”

Since the 2000 Camp David talks, the Palestinian leadership has accepted that while the two-state solution should be based on the pre-June 5, 1967, borders, the concept of land swaps was possible.

The idea behind the land swap suggestion was meant to incorporate for Israel the many Jewish settlements that straddle or are close (on the Palestinian side) of the Green Line into the state of Israel. In return, the thinking has been that Israel could possibly free lands to allow for a West Bank-Gaza corridor as well as to allow for expansion of the Gaza Strip.