(Commentary) Tom Wilson - Despite having made a commitment to refrain from taking actions to pursue statehood unilaterally during the course of the current U.S.-sponsored negotiations with Israel, on Monday PA leader Mahmoud Abbas chaired a meeting of the PLO Executive Committee to discuss contingency plans to do precisely that, months before negotiations are due to conclude in April. Under the framework for the current round of talks, Israel agreed to release a cohort of convicted terrorists and in return the Palestinians would halt their campaign to gain membership in an increasing number of UN agencies. Since negotiations began in July, Israel has stood by its part of the agreement and so far released 78 Palestinian prisoners. The fact that the Palestinians are already making contingency plans for the failure of the talks is an indication of just how much faith they really have in these negotiations reaching any kind of successful conclusion.
2014-01-15 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive