In his laptop he carried the maps he had drawn of Israel's proposal for the borders of the Palestinian state-to-be.
The text did not address any of the key issues in this dispute: Jerusalem; the right of return of 1948 refugees; the status of Jewish settlements built on occupied Palestinian land; or the borders of the Palestinian entity.
These include the right of return of the 1948 Palestinian refugees, the status of Jerusalem, the future of the Jewish settlements on the West Bank, and the borders of the Palestinian entity.
While they fight for survival, the wall has also played a key role in changing the big picture, delineating the borders of the Palestinian enclaves Israel will grant "statehood".
If the Oslo accords of 1993 were the turning point, the subsequent discussions in Stockholm reached the heart of the dispute: Jerusalem, the rights of the Palestinian refugees, the future of the Jewish settlements on the West Bank, and the borders of the Palestinian state.
"The eastern borders of the Palestinian state, stretching from the Dead Sea, through the Jordan Valley and the central highlands, to the borders of Bisan [Beit Shean in northern Israel] are Palestinian-Jordanian borders and will remain so," he said.
Abbas said he was ready to extend negotiations with Israel, which officially end in three days, by three months if Israel would release the last group of long-detained Palestinian prisoners it had said it would set free when the talks started in July, freeze all settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and present a map showing the borders of the Palestinian state.
Netanyahu's conditions that the Palestinian state be demilitarized and that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state should not prevent Israelis from showing what their vision is when it comes to the borders of the Palestinian state and how to organize Israeli security.
Anything else? Netanyahu wants to start the talks by discussing security, principally along the Jordan valley – the border of the putative Palestinian state.
Back at the table, their first order of business can be setting the borders of the new Palestinian state.
