Abbas tells UN new Palestinian government will recognise Israel

[deadparrot]

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas told the UN General Assembly that any new Palestinian government would recognise Israel.

"I would like to reaffirm that any future Palestinian government will commit to all the agreements that the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority have committed to," he said in a speech to the assembly.

Abbas referred in particular to letters exchanged by Palestinian and Israeli leaders, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, in 1993 which contained mutual recognition of the two sides.

Abbas, who has been negotiating with the Hamas group over a national unity government, said: "These two letters contain a reciprocal recognition between the PLO and Israel, reject violence and call for negotiations to reach a permanent settlement with the creation of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060922/wl_mideast_afp/unassemblymideast

[Seeking Serenity]

1. Nice knowin' ya, Abbas. (n/t)

[Taoschick]

4. He's history

[Name removed]

2. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[INDIA]

3. Good for Abbas...

a voice of reason in a region that badly needs it.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. This is good news!

Let's hope it gets legs!

[Seeking Serenity]

6. Before the extremists have him whacked.

You just know there will be an imam somewhere who will issue a fatwa over this "heresy."

Not that I'm in favor of such a thing by any means; just a prognostication based on past action.

[Behind the Aegis]

9. I don't know....

Abbas, while conservative as compared to some of the other leaders, is actually pretty well liked by all sides, with the exception of the hardcore. To my knowledge, even as the factions fought, Abbas hasn't been a target. Well, I think there was one attempt, but it was actually Hamas that foiled it.

[Seeking Serenity]

11. It only takes one hardcore imam with a fiery rhetoric

and one band of hardcore true-believers to make it happen.

Double the guard, effendi!

[greccogirl]

7. Oh God - he won't be around

long - but maybe there is hope after all?

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. .

:eyes: and just a little :puke:

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[manic expression]

13. Not an invalid statement n/t

[Behind the Aegis]

14. perhaps it was. n/t

[manic expression]

18. Perhaps in your eyes

but that's not a reliant source for this issue, now is it? I'll stick to reality: the comment wasn't unreasonable, it was not without justification.

[Behind the Aegis]

19. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought so.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. Damn!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2524821

[Mind Snapper]

16. Actually the threat to his life wouldn't have been

radical Islamic fundamentalists within Hamas so much as the CIA.

So, for him anyway, this is good news.

[PCIntern]

17. Maybe I'm missing something...

since it seems like it's a foregone conclusion that this man is walking his last mile, what does that say about the possibilities of a 'peaceful' solution to the issue at hand? How can anyone feel that this is the assumed endpoint of an overture like this and then say that Israel 'has' to deal with these 'folks'? I just don't get it.

[barb162]

20. Hamas again rejects recognition of Israel

Hamas again rejects recognition of Israel
22 September 2006
13:07 CET Mideast An offer of a 10-year truce by Hamas has been rejected out of hand by Israel. Two of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's spokesmen in turn made declarations completely opposed to their President's position. Sami Abu Zuhrit said if recognition of Israel were a condition for joining a National Unity government Hamas would not participate. Spokesman Ahmed Youssef agreed, adding Hamas would never recognise the state of Israel when he made the truce offer, but Israel's dismissal was only minutes in coming.

Meanwhile President Mahmoud Abbas repeats to all and sundry, most recently at the UN General Assembly last night, that any new administration will renounce violence, honour any past agreements, and recognise Israel's right to exist.
snip


http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=381094&lng=1

[barb162]

21. Abbas is singing a tune different from Hamas

see the link below; Hamas rejects this