JERUSALEM, 18 July 2007 — Israel yesterday ruled out negotiations “at this stage” on the borders of a future Palestinian state, rebuffing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and casting doubt on a US push to tackle the issue.
Israel gave its response a day after US President George W. Bush said “serious negotiations toward the creation of a Palestinian state” could begin soon. Bush said the talks should lead to a deal on Palestinian borders, suggesting other final-status issues such as Jerusalem and refugees wait until later.
Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian leader, who dismissed a Hamas-led Cabinet after the Islamist group’s takeover of the Gaza Strip last month, was prepared to start negotiations immediately on all final-status issues.
Abbas said this to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in talks in Jerusalem on Monday, officials said. “Israel has openly stated that we’re willing to talk about issues of ‘political horizon’ and about how to achieve the vision of two states for two peoples,” said Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin.
“But we have been very clear that we are not willing to discuss at this stage the three core issues of borders, refugees and Jerusalem,” Eisin added. Western diplomats and analysts said Bush seemed to be outlining a strategy of staged negotiations under which borders would be delineated before other core questions were addressed.
Bush said the negotiations he envisaged starting soon “must lead to a territorial settlement, with mutually agreed borders reflecting previous lines and current realities, and mutually agreed adjustments.” Bush said this would help show Palestinians a clear way forward to establishing a state and could ultimately lead to agreement on the fate of refugees and Jerusalem and a permanent end to the conflict.
Meanwhile, about 100 Palestinians smashed doors and windows inside an airport building in this Egypt-Gaza Strip border town early yesterday after being trapped there for more than a month since the border’s closure, police and one of the rioters said.
Dozens of anti-riot police with batons and shields stormed El-Arish airport and clashed with rioters, injuring two of them, one of the rioters, Mohammed Ali, told the Associated Press.
A police official said that more troops have been deployed to the airport after yesterday’s clashes, fearing more riots and violence. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
