Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced he’s open to a land swap with Israel rather than a full return of all land occupied in 1967. In an interview Wednesday, Abbas said he would be willing to give up parts of the Occupied Territories if Israel handed over an equal amount of land within its internationally recognized borders.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: “All we want is for the state to be on the 1967 borders, meaning the size of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is [2,396 square miles]. We want it as it is, [2,396 square miles]. This is what the international community has given us. This is what President Bush declared. This is what the U.N. resolutions have decided. And therefore we are demanding that state.”

Abbas’ comments come ahead of a U.S.-brokered Mideast peace conference next month. Israel recently ordered the seizure of vast new swaths of Palestinian land to expand its largest settlement on the West Bank.