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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (Flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff October 16, 2007 |
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In his toughest demands yet, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday that Israel should dismantle all settlements in Judea and Samaria before a permanent agreement with the PA is established, according to Haaretz.
In addition, Abbas is demanding that Israel withdraw to its position before the second intifada broke out in 2000, and release all Palestinian prisoners, many of whom present a significant security threat to the Jewish state. Many Palestinians are in jail for perpetrating, planning or attempting acts of terrorism against Israelis.
Abbas' demands are far fetched in terms of what Israel, both the government and the public, is willing to offer. Amid reports of Hamas' growing strength inside the West Bank, it is unlikely that Israel would agree to dismantle the settlements. And the majority of Israelis who support a two state solution believe that Israel should retain well-established settlement blocs.
Rice, however, lauded the PA for its "serious effort" to reach a deal with Israel, despite its increasingly unrealistic demands.
"Israelis and Palestinians are making their most serious effort in years to resolve the conflict," she said.
The secretary of state remained optimistic about Israeli-PA negotiations, and said that a date for the upcoming summit would be determined according to the progress of negotiations between the two sides.
"We will continue to work and help them to create this document and we will then be in a position I think fairly soon to talk about when this meeting ought to take place," the Jerusalem Post quoted Rice as saying.
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