The unseen map that promised to bring peace to the Middle East

In 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert implored Palestinian leaders to accept an agreement he believed could bring peace to the Middle East. Olmert stated at the time, "You won't find any Israeli leader in the next 50 years who will offer you what I am offering you now." He urged them, "Sign it! Sign it, and let's change history together!"

This agreement was a two-state solution, but one that seems almost impossible to achieve today. If implemented, it would establish a Palestinian state on over 94% of the occupied West Bank land. The map Olmert drafted now holds an almost mythical status, subject to various interpretations over the years, but he never publicly displayed it to the media.

In documentarian Norma Percy's latest series, "Israel and Palestine: Roadmap to October 7th," Olmert presented the map to the media for the first time. The documentary began airing on iPlayer starting Monday. Olmert stated that he showed Mahmoud Abbas the map at a meeting in Jerusalem on September 16, 2008.

The map detailed the territory Olmert proposed to annex to Israel – 4.9% of the West Bank. This would include major Jewish settlement blocs, similar to previous proposals since the late 1990s. In return, Olmert said Israel would relinquish an equivalent amount of Israeli territory along the edges of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The two Palestinian territories would be connected by a tunnel or highway – also something that had been discussed before.

Olmert's plan also included a proposed solution to the thorny issue of Jerusalem. Both sides could claim parts of the city as their capital, while control of the "Holy Basin," including the Old City and its religious sites and adjacent areas, would be transferred to a trustee committee composed of Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United States. Olmert recalled that the Palestinian leader's response was: "Prime Minister, this is a very important matter. Very, very, very important."

If the plan had been implemented, the impact on Jewish settlements would have been significant. Dozens of communities scattered throughout the West Bank and Jordan Valley would have been evacuated. When former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon forcibly removed thousands of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005, it was seen as a national trauma by the Israeli right wing. Evacuating large parts of the West Bank would have presented an even greater challenge, involving tens of thousands of settlers and a real danger of violence.

At the end of their meeting, Olmert refused to give Mahmoud Abbas a copy of the map unless the Palestinian leader signed it. Abbas refused, saying he needed to show the map to his experts to ensure they fully understood what was being offered. Olmert said the two agreed to hold a meeting of map experts the next day. However, this meeting never happened. Rafik Husseini, President Abbas's chief of staff, recalled that as they drove away from Jerusalem that evening, the atmosphere in the car was light, and they even laughed.

The Palestinians believed the plan was already dead in the water. Olmert had become embroiled in an unrelated corruption scandal and had already announced his plans to resign. Husseini said: "Unfortunately, Olmert, no matter how friendly he was... was a lame duck, and therefore, we wouldn't get anywhere." The situation in Gaza also complicated matters. After months of rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled territory, Olmert ordered a large-scale Israeli assault in late December, Operation Cast Lead, triggering three weeks of intense fighting.

Olmert said it would have been "very wise" for Abbas to sign the agreement. That way, if a future Israeli prime minister tried to cancel it, "he could tell the world that the failure was Israel's fault." Israeli elections were held the following February. Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister, and he strongly opposed Palestinian statehood. Olmert's plan and map gradually faded from view.

Olmert says he is still waiting for Abbas's response, but his plan has joined a long list of missed opportunities that could have ended the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Former Israeli diplomat Abba Eban quipped in 1973 that the Palestinians "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." Israeli officials have often repeated this phrase since then. But the world has become even more complicated since the two sides signed the historic Oslo Accords in 1993.

The peace process, which began with a handshake between former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn, experienced moments of hope but was also interspersed with tragedy. Ultimately, it ended in failure. The reasons are complex, and both sides bear responsibility, but the fact is that the stars never truly aligned. As shown by a napkin map drawn at the Taba resort in Egypt in 2001 by a Palestinian representative, they saw for the first time a rough outline of a viable Palestinian state. However, the negotiations were irrelevant, overwhelmed by the violence raging in the streets of the West Bank and Gaza, the Second Palestinian Intifada, or "uprising," which had erupted the previous September. Israel was once again in political transition. Prime Minister Ehud Barak had resigned. Ariel Sharon easily defeated him a few weeks later. The map on the napkin, like Olmert's map eight years later, showed what could have been.