PA again refuses to consider state with interim borders

Abbas adviser reiterates that the Palestinians strongly oppose a state with temporary borders; claims PM's talk a ploy to break int'l isolation.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Abbas311 reuters (photo credit: reuters)
Abbas311 reuters
(photo credit: reuters)
The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday reiterated its opposition to any interim agreement with Israel that would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state with temporary borders.
The PA’s announcement came in response to reports that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was considering seeking a long-term interim peace deal with the Palestinians that would include the establishment of such a state.
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Nimer Hammad, political advisor to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said that the Palestinians were strongly opposed to the idea of a state with temporary borders.
He claimed that the talk about an interim deal was designed to help Israel “break the isolation imposed on it by many European countries, which are demanding an end to occupation and settlement construction.”
Hammad called on Israel to stop building in the settlements and enter “real negotiations” with the Palestinians over final-status issues.
PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo, who serves as a close adviser to Abbas, said that the Palestinians would not sign any interim or partial agreement with Israel.
He said that any agreement with Israel must include international guarantees that it would be fully implemented according to an agreed timetable.
Abed Rabbo added that the conflict with Israel would not end before all agreements on the final-status issues are implemented.
“Our top priority is to end the occupation of our lands and a withdrawal to the 1967 borders, including east Jerusalem, and a just solution to the case of the Palestinian refugees on the basis of the Arab peace initiative [of 2001],” he said.
The Palestinians are also not worried about the possibility that Israel might unilaterally withdraw from parts of the West Bank without coordinating the move with them, Abed Rabbo said.
Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction also voiced its opposition to the idea of a Palestinian state with temporary borders and called for a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines.
“Israel’s failure to abide by international resolutions proves that the current Israeli government is not ready for peace on the basis of a twostate solution,” said Osama Kawasmeh, a Fatah spokesman in the West Bank.
“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.”