Palestine: Abbas to US "Represent Us in Border Talks with Israel"

According to Haaretz, an aide to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has claimed that the PA has asked Washington to represent Ramallah, replacing Palestinian negotiators in border talks with Israel, since the Netanyahu Government has refused to accept Abbas's demand of a total halt to Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. The aide alleged that U.S. negotiators would be given clear parameters: the Palestine state would have to be established in the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War (the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem), but the Palestinians would agree to swap up to 3 percent of the territory to accommodate some Israeli settlements.

It is reported that there has been no official response from Washington, but Abbas is hoping to discuss the proposal during U.S. Mideast special envoy George Mitchell's visit this week.

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Comments

[Yonatan Amir]

To halt the settlements, Bibi needs to do a bit of "out with the old, in with the new", i.e. get rid of nationalist coalition partners before they get the chance to quit, and get Kadima (or parts thereof) to join. That would also entail problems at home (Likkud). So I can understand why he'd be reluctant to do so. The problem is that no-one is capable of changing the status-quo without risking their position, and any obvious international intervention might cause a public opinion backfire.