Ramallah, West Bank – The Palestinian president said Saturday he would not accept an Israeli peace initiative if it called for temporary borders for a future Palestinian state.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
President Mahmoud Abbas’ comments were the highest official response so far to news of a peace plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to publicly propose in the coming weeks.
The negative response highlights the deep mistrust between Palestinian and Israeli officials over each other’s intentions. It also demonstrates the difficulties of where to begin in negotiations meant to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Israeli officials have not unveiled details of the plan, but a Netanyahu aide last week described it as taking “a phased approach,” which Palestinians interpret as meaning temporary borders.
Palestinians fear accepting anything less than permanent borders would allow Israel to annex remaining lands that they seek for their future state.
“We are aware of an old plan of a state with provisional borders, and if this plan was presented again we will not accept it,” Abbas said at a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The last U.S. attempt to mediate peace negotiations stumbled in September when Netanyahu refused to renew a temporary, partial freeze on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank.
Palestinians seek a state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories Israel seized during the 1967 Mideast war.
In the West Bank on Saturday, Jewish settlers clashed with Palestinians from the village of Iraq Burin, Palestinian residents said. They said settlers surrounded a shepherd and tried to frighten away his sheep. Palestinian residents responded by hurling rocks and chasing them back to the nearby hilltop settlement of Bracha. Members of an Israeli paramilitary unit fired tear gas and warning shots to drive them back to their village.
A military spokeswoman said the Palestinians tried to enter the Jewish settlement.
It is just amazing to me that no one talks about when the Palestinians/Arabs took the land away from Israel. Only about when Israel took the land away from the Palestinians. Lets go to the video tape. Should we go back to the Bible and start mapping out the land according to what Hashem gave the Jews and how it was divided among the tribes? Will that settle it for once and for all? Seriously no state or country has ever given back conquered land. The Arabs didn’t, the Russians didn’t no one did. So why should Israel? Lets start talking sense here.
Beggars can’t and shouldn’t be choosy. Be happy with what you get, Palis. As more time passes by, the more houses will be built in Jerusalem and the less you’ll get.
Charlie hall well israel gave back the sinai and gaza why should they give back anymore land and in 1848 we didn’t want all of mexico we got most of what was mexican territory and we captured the west bank and east jerusalem from Jordan not the Palestinians