By JPOST.COM STAFF
28/01/2010 11:59
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said that the Palestinians would not accept Abu Dis, a town between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim that is currently controlled by the PA, as the capital of their future state, but would insist on receiving control over east Jerusalem.
In an interview with an Arab-language Russian TV channel, Abbas explained that while he feels east and west must not be divided in practice, it was important that it would be clear which part of the capital belongs to the Palestinians and which part belongs to Israel.
The PA president said that the Israeli demand to be recognized as a Jewish state appeared only in the 1947 partition plan, hinting that Israel would have to implement that plan in order to gain recognition as a Jewish state.
Abbas went on to explain that he could not resume peace talks with Israel without agreeing on basic issues and while Israel continued construction in east Jerusalem, because the peace process would suffer a serious blow already after the first meeting.
“What if they say in this meeting that they do not accept the ’67 borders and are not prepared to discuss [the issues of] and the [return of Palestinian] refugees? What would we talk about?” Abbas was quoted as telling the Russian TV channel. “If I engage in negotiations while construction in goes on – they will say that is theirs, since I was willing to resume talks while construction continued.”
has rejected two ideas about resuming the peace talks, consolidated by the PA, and , Abbas claimed. Those ideas reportedly included a short building moratorium in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Israeli recognition of international decisions and the resumption of peace talks from the point they were halted in December 2008, under then-prime minister Ehud Olmert.
Editor's Note:
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill .
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
Remember, O YAHWEH, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
"Tear it down," they cried,
"tear it down to its foundations!"
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-
he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
PSALM 137: 5-9
O God, do not keep silent;
be not quiet, O God, be not still.
See how your enemies are astir,
how your foes rear their heads.
With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
"Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel be remembered no more."
With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you-
the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,
Gebal, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
Even Assyria has joined them
to lend strength to the descendants of Lot.
Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
who perished at Endor
and became like refuse on the ground.
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
who said, "Let us take possession
of the pasturelands of God."
Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,
like chaff before the wind.
As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.
Cover their faces with shame
so that men will seek your name, O LORD.
May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.
Let them know that you, whose name is YAHWEH -
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.
PSALM 83
"Sha'alu Shalom Yerushalayim" --- Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
Mark Matheny.
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