The Palestinian president said Saturday he would not accept an Israeli peace initiative if it called for temporary borders for a future Palestinian state. President Mahmoud Abbas' comments were the highest official response so far to news of a peace plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to publicly propose in the coming weeks.
The negative response highlights the deep mistrust between Palestinian and Israeli officials over each other's intentions. It also demonstrates the difficulties of where to begin in negotiations meant to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. Israeli officials have not unveiled details of the plan, but a Netanyahu aide last week described it as taking "a phased approach," which Palestinians interpret as meaning temporary borders.
Palestinians fear accepting anything less than permanent borders would allow Israel to annex remaining lands that they seek for their future state. "We are aware of an old plan of a state with provisional borders, and if this plan was presented again we will not accept it," Abbas said at a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The last US attempt to mediate peace negotiations stumbled in September when Netanyahu refused to renew a temporary, partial freeze on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank.
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