I suppose we could have guessed
this months ago, couldn't we? Israel's Channel 2 reported on Friday night that the 'Palestinians' are gearing up to reject US Secretary of State John FN Kerry's 'peace plan' and to go to war with Israel in every conceivable forum.
The Palestinian Authority is currently setting up teams to wage
diplomatic war against Israel in “every conceivable” forum, including
pushing for boycotts of Israel and seeking legal rulings against Israel
via international courts in The Hague, Israel’s Channel 2 news reported
Friday night.
Unless Kerry significantly changes the current formulation of his
proposals, the report said, the Palestinians will reject his overtures,
confident that much of the international community will consider them to
be the injured party and hold Israel responsible for the failure of
peace efforts.
The Palestinians are furious that Kerry is offering them a state
“with no borders, no capital, no [control over] border crossings… and
without Jerusalem,” the TV report said, quoting Palestinian sources.
On Jerusalem, rather than the complete control that Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is demanding over all areas of the
city captured by Israel in the 1967 war, including the Old City, Kerry
is merely offering the Palestinians a capital based in one of the city’s
outlying neighborhoods such as Isawiya, Abu Dis (where construction of a
Palestinian parliamentary building was begun in 2000), Beit Hanina or
Shuafat.
The TV report came a day after the former Palestinian
negotiator Nabil Shaath made plain the Palestinians’ anger with Kerry,
by publicly accusing the secretary of endorsing Israel’s demands on two
central issues in the peace talks: The recognition of Israel as a Jewish
state and a continued Israeli security presence in the Jordan Valley.
The PA has repeatedly rebuffed these two demands. “The two issues have never been in our agenda: the Jewishness of the state [of Israel] and the Jordan [Valley],” Shaath said.
Palestinian sources told AFP in
early January that Abbas rebuffed pressure from Kerry to recognize
Israel as a Jewish state. They also said the secretary was proposing a
joint Israeli-Palestinian presence to control the West Bank-Jordan
border, where Israel has insisted on continued IDF control. Abbas
previously sought an international military presence on the border, with
no Israeli involvement.
Last month, the Palestinians reportedly rejected a proposal by Kerry
for an Israeli security presence in the Jordan Valley for the first 10
years after the signing of a peace deal.
Neither Kerry’s security proposals, nor his evolving framework deal
for ongoing talks, have been made public, but leaked details indicate
Israel and the Palestinians are at odds over almost all key issues —
notably including the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugee demands,
border demarcations, land-swap arrangements, and security proposals.
Current talks are set to end in April; Kerry wants the framework deal
inked in the near future, as a basis for extending the talks.
You mean Kerry's about to fail just like everyone else before him? I'm so totally shocked....
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