PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT Mahmoud Abbas yesterday welcomed US secretary of state Hillary Clinton in Ramallah by saying there was no alternative to peace through negotiations, without indicating whether he would carry on talks if Israel continued settlement expansion.
According to the London-based Arabic daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Ms Clinton has proposed a three-month extension of Israel's partial freeze on West Bank settlement construction while the border between Israel and a Palestinian state can be delineated.
Once the border is fixed, Israel would be free to build on its side of the line while all Israeli construction would cease in areas designated for the Palestinian state.
Sources in Ms Clinton’s delegation said this proposal could break the ongoing deadlock over the settlement issue. Mr Abbas has repeatedly said he will walk out of direct talks if construction resumes on September 26th, while Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has declared he will not renew the 10-month moratorium on new housing. Right-wingers have threatened to quit his coalition if restrictions are retained.
Mr Abbas promptly accepted the US proposal. He said once the borders were set, the issues of East Jerusalem, land, settlements and water would be resolved. Mr Abbas also insisted the border between Palestine and Israel should follow the line of June 4th, 1967.
Palestinians argue they cannot afford to agree to less than the 22 per cent of geographic Palestine, represented by East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Nevertheless, Mr Abbas has said he will concede 1.5 to 2 per cent of the West Bank in exchange for an equivalent amount of Israeli land of equal value. He has dismissed Israeli demands for 5 to 6 per cent.
Mr Netanyahu has rejected the 1967 line and is seeking to couple the border issue with Israel’s security requirements. He has accepted the idea of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, but has not committed to Israeli withdrawal from areas Palestinians demand for their state. The Palestinians say all Israeli settlers and soldiers must leave. But many settlers reject any pull-out from areas they regard as the biblical heartland and Israel’s military seeks to keep a presence.
While Mr Abbas clings to a hard line on settlement expansion, he will find it very difficult to break off talks because the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, dominated by his Fatah movement, depends on EU and US funding. Of the $583.5 million (€446.2 million) the authority received this year, 78 per cent has come largely from the EU and US.
Arab governments have not delivered on commitments and are unlikely to pay more until Fatah, which administers the West Bank enclaves, agrees to reconcile with Hamas, which rules Gaza.
