Funny. I can't recall us having offered them a West Bank "deal." Musta slipped my mind...
Palestinian authorities have said that any US assurance to Israel that it will not have to quit all of the West Bank in a future peace deal, will fly in the face of the roadkill "road map" and result in even more instability in the region.
| Hard to imagine how there could be more... |
Spokespersons for the Palestinian Authority and Hamas were squealing like piggies reacting to a report in an Israeli newspaper on Sunday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will receive, in exchange for a planned Gaza pullout, a written US assurance Israel will not have to quit all of the West Bank in any future peace deal. The paper said the pledge would be contained in a letter that US President George Bush will hand Sharon at their White House meeting on Wednesday. "Palestinians will not accept that, especially those working on the peace process", said Hamas representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, "as they guaranteed for their people that they will have the Gaza Strip and West Bank".
| If you're not playing by the rules, don't bitch when the other guys start another game. (I don't think they've caught on yet that it's a new game. They're pretty slow on the uptake. It's all that time they spend bumping their foreheads on the ground.) |
Should there be "no complete withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, it will destroy the entire peace process", said Hamdan, speaking to Aljazeera.net.
| The peace processor's unplugged at the moment... |
"It would mean an end to their (the negotiators') political careers", he added. The Palestinians want all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, for the state they hope to establish under a US-backed peace "road map".
| Actually, they want all of Israel. But we've been over that before. |
"This is our aim", said PA Foreign Affairs spokesperson Muhammad al-Wahbidi. "We accepted the road map because we want to see an independent Palestinian state."
| "Then we crapped on it, because there ain't nobody tells us what to do!" |
"There is no need to renegotiate", he added.
| Nobody's negotiating with you. Tough, ain't it? |
Al-Wahbidi said the PA had not yet officially been informed the US was to give Israel those assurances, but added that "we will listen to the Americans and they will listen to us and in the end, we will know the guarantees and assurances".
| Or not. If Powell calls me for my opinion tonight, I'll suggest he let it be a surprise. Kinda like a birthday party, only different. |
PA Chief negotiator, Nabil Shaath is also to meet with US Secretary of State, Colin Powell in the US later this month.
| Talk about baseball instead, Colin. |
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