Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he opposed the creation of a Palestinian state with temporary borders and unilateral Israeli movement of settlers between illegal settlements in the West Bank.
"We reject unilateral solutions and a state with temporary borders," Abbas said in an address at festivities on the eve of International Women’s Day. "It should be clear to everyone that we reject such a solution," he added.
Abbas recognized that the creation of a Palestinian state with temporary borders was outlined as a possibility in the internationally drafted roadmap peace plan, which has made next to no progress since its launch in 2003.
"It’s an option, not an obligation and it is an option we reject," he said.
The Palestinian Authority president pointed out that Israel’s unilateral ‘withdrawal’ from the Gaza Strip last year was carried out without negotiations, something that he said would not happen in the West Bank.
"Any solution must be negotiated. We will not accept a repeat in the West Bank of what happened in the Gaza Strip," he said.
Israel’s ruling Kadima party has vowed to set the permanent borders of the Jewish state by moving settlers from some illegal West Bank settlements into others, thus securing permanent control over 20% of the West Bank, which it will annex for Israel, and surrounding the rest with the Wall.
Yet differences have emerged between key players in the party, with some officials calling for unilateral action while others counsel negotiations with the Palestinians in the framework of the roadmap peace plan.
Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced publicly his stance that Israel should unilaterally seize 20% of the Palestinian West Bank, and surround the rest with the Israeli annexation Wall. The area he proposes seizing includes the Jordan Valley, on the east side of the West Bank, and wall construction in that area has zealously moved forawrd since his announcement two weeks ago.
