Benjamin Netanyahu recently stated that “The Palestinians aren’t ready to reach a final-status agreement to end the conflict, in light of the instability in the region,” referring to the current unrest raging throughout the Middle East. In light of this, he had been reportedly considering a Palestinian state with temporary borders in order to work towards an interim peace deal.
The dust had barely settled on the notion that Netanyahu was “mulling” this over when Mahmoud Abbas went ahead and told him thanks, but no thanks. Abbas claims that this most recent concession was just a ploy to help Netanyahu break Israel’s current isolation with “many European countries.”
Fatah furthered their position by stating: “There will be no agreement with Israel unless it includes the establishment of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
So there will be no peace in March of 2011. May we all live to see April.
