Abbas Says He Won't Resume Talks With Netanyahu

Jerusalem Post:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated on Sunday his refusal to resume peace talks with Israel unless Binyamin Netanyahu's government accepted the two-state solution and agreed to freeze all construction in the settlements in the West Bank.

Read the whole story: Jerusalem Post

Comments

[ssg13565]

I am beginning to think that it is not for use to judge how this will be settled.

Both sides are going to have to give up some non-negotiable demands. We cannot decide for them the value trade-off among their non-negotiable demands. They have to make those choices themselves.

However, we can probably agree to stop support of violations on either side of agreements already reached. We can promote respect for human rights as we would hope they would be respected, not as they have been respected by our own recent administrations.

We also can encourage a discussion within the parties about the trade-offs they must make.

[LostRiverLedger]

Seems both sides have learned well from G.W. Bush......­place impossible conditions so that speaking to each other is not in the realm of possibilit­y......

[gbrooks]

What condition has Abbas placed on Israel that's so impossible?

I say that if the settlers want to stay in their illegal settlements, let them do so, but they will no longer be Israelis, they'll be Palestinian Jews, just like there are Palestinian Israelis. (Though, I have to say that I wouldn't wish the majority of settlers on any state.)

[CigarGod]

Agreed.
Those settllers are some rabid folk.

[WhatDaBleep]

Then he should have not complaints the next time Israel bombs the shiite out of him.

[CigarGod]

For a negotiating stance?
I think that would be another WC and another UN resolution.

[renatam]

Good.

[mrskorn]

If settlements are the issue, why didn't the arabs accept a state alongside Israel before there were any settlements?
Settlements are not the issue.....­..arabs/pa­ls refusal to recognize Israel is.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124693682423904037.html#printMode

[gbrooks]

You cite a neocon rag? That's not biased, nope, not at all.

[CigarGod]

If that is all she reads, and she it agrees with her programming, the circle of her logic is complete. If at some point some glimmer of fairness shines on her, she will get the Palestinian point of view...fro­m the Israeli's.

[alexa07]

Always the same old issue, the so-called settlements. It seems almost impossible to believe that a "settler" who lives for 10 yrs. in his "home" will has his loan forgiven by the Israeli govt. If this situation is really the case (it's just too ridiculous), how can our American leaders justify any part of it?

[CigarGod]

Because it is an illegal house.
All comassion for the inhabitants aside, it was the government who placed the settler in that position. The settler should also have to accept some responsibi­lity...bec­ause very few don't know it is not their land.

[alexa07]

How many Americans would still be in their own homes if their loans had been forgiven by the govt? If this is the case (still seems just too ridiculous), how fair is that? All the while our tax dollars hemorrhage, hemorrhage, hemorrhage.

[cleeg-litz]

Shrewd play. And rightfully so.
Obama played it for real and Netanyahu didn't anticipate that.
Illegal settlements are exactly that. Illegal.
Israel needs to fess up to the fact that if they want to exist in the middle east they need to take responsibility for their agreed upon borders.

I hope Obama doesn't let this go and keeps Israel accountable.

[CigarGod]

Obama has the Israeli's in check. Bibi knows this. Abbas was just checking in.