[New Republic] Martin Peretz - Mahmoud Abbas opposes a provisional Palestinian state and wants a final settlement based on the 1949 cease-fire lines, with 4 million Arab refugees having the right to "return" to 1949 Israel, and with Jerusalem as its capital. He is living in a world of fantasy. He can't even get his own people to agree about who is the Palestinian government and who is not, whether he's actually in power or whether power belongs to Hamas and Prime Minister Haniyah. A Palestinian government does not exist, and it is already making demands for a permanent resolution of Arab-Israeli conflict. Abbas' signature won't be worth a fig. A provisional government is actually the best that the Palestinians will get right now, but, since they are recalcitrant, they won't even get that.
2007-01-16 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive