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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/15/palestian-rejectionism-obstacle-to-peace
Palestinian Rejectionism Is the Main Obstacle to Peace
(Guardian-UK) Danny Ayalon - With the Israeli-Palestinian peace process once more sadly hanging by a thread, too few have acknowledged that the Palestinians have quietly been allowed to regress from the conventional positions, many of which they formerly accepted, that are essential for any peace process. For example, the murder of four Israelis by Palestinian terrorists on 31 August, on the eve of negotiations, did not induce Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, to withdraw from peace talks. Yet the construction of a few apartments in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank, has been viewed by many as a justifiable excuse for the Palestinians to walk out. At a recent Palestinian Donors' Conference at the UN, PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad could not even agree to insert the words "two states for two peoples" in the text of the conference summary. This standard formula was deemed unacceptable to the most moderate elements of the PA. If the Palestinian leadership has still not come to terms with the enduring existence of Israel as a Jewish state, everything else is hollow. The writer is Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.