No Palestinian concessions at upcoming peace talks

From Israel Today:

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas clarified for his people on Monday that he intends to make not even one concession or compromise in direct peace negotiations with Israel, and that for a final status peace to be achieved, Israel will have to fully meet all Arab demands and abandon its own conditions.

First and foremost, Abbas told Palestinian newspapers that if the Jewish building freeze in Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") is not extended indefinitely, the negotiations will come to an immediate halt. But Abbas also said he would walk out of the talks if he is pressured at all to alter the Palestinians' more hardline positions.

"If they demand concessions on the rights of the refugees or the 1967 borders, I will quit. I can’t allow myself to make even one concession," Abbas told the Palestinian newspaperAl-Ayyam.

Abbas was referring to the Palestinian demand that Israel solve the purported "Palestinian refugee" issue by opening its border to millions of new Arab citizens. Abbas has long championed that demand, despite the fact that it would mean the demographic destruction of the Jewish state. Even Israel's most liberal politicians reject the so-called "right of return."

The Palestinian leader's position on the issue was two-faced, as he then turned around and insisted that an independent Palestinian state created by the current peace process must not have a single Jew living in it. "We clarified that [the Palestinian Authority] would not agree to continued Israeli presence, military or civil, within a future Palestinian state," Abbas said.

In speaking of the 1967 borders, Abbas made it clear that he will not allow Israel to maintain control over a united Jerusalem as part of any peace deal. Up until 1967, the eastern half of Jerusalem was illegally occupied by Jordan. The Palestinians now claim it as their rightful capital.

Abbas reiterated his position in an interview with Jerusalem-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds when he rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's talk of a historic compromise between the two sides in order to reach a durable peace agreement.

Abbas also addressed Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as "the Jewish state."

"We're not talking about a Jewish state and we won't talk about one," Abbas said. "For us, there is the state of Israel and we won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state."

Analysis by Jack Cohen:

In an interview with the Palestinian newspaperAl-Ayyam, Pres. Abbas stated regarding the current direct negotiations, "I can't allow myself to make even one concession."

Actually, in the current negotiations the positions of the Israeli and PA Governments are quite similar. For example:

1. Israeli representatives emphasize that both sides must be prepared to make significant compromises. The Palestinian side agrees that the Israeli side must be prepared to make significant compromises.

2. The Israeli side insists that there are no preconditions to the talks. The PA side agrees, but insists that the talks cannot proceed without Israel extending the building freeze on the West Bank after its 10 month period ends.

3. The Israeli side is prepared to make concessions, such as removing checkpoints on the West Bank and allowing hundreds of Palestinian businessmen to enter Israel. The Palestinian side agrees with this concession.

4. The Palestinian side insists that the borders of the future Palestinian State must be the pre-1967 ceasefire lines. The Israeli side mistakenly assumed that there was going to be a negotiation on borders.

5. The Palestinian side insists that no Jews can be allowed to live within the West Bank area that will become the Palestinian State, since they ethnically cleansed the area of Jews from 1929 to 1949 (including massacres in Hebron and Etzion).

6. The Israeli side points out that there is a 20% minority of Arabs who are Israeli citizens, but the Palestinian side considers the Israeli denial of the "right of return" of the so-called Palestinian refugees as "racist."

7. The Israeli side proposes mutual recognition between the Palestinian Arab State and the Jewish Israeli State. The Palestinian side agrees that Israel must recognise their sovereign rights, but they cannot reciprocate, since after the Muslim conquest of Palestine in the 8th century the whole of Palestine was ethnically cleansed of Jews, and so they cannot therefore recognise the right of the Jews to a State in Palestine.

Whoever is optimistic about the outcome of the current talks, due to reconvene in Taba in Egypt in two weeks, must face the reality that the Palestinian side is not ready to actually negotiate on anything, except Israeli concessions.