He was offered an independent state on a silver platter by Mr. Ehud Olmert and rejected it, 2008, according to Abbas himself in an interview in the Washington Post last May. Yet, in August of this year he presided over the Fatah's gathering in Bethlehem in which the organization that he helped found stated once again that the aim is the "liberation" of "Palestine", i.e. from the River to the Sea, by whatever means necessary, including the use of terror and violence. This perhaps explains his refusal to accept Israel's right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and his total objection to seeing any agreement as the "end of conflict". That end will come, we must only assume, according to Mr. Abbas, when Israel is no more, annihilated. Is this, Mr. Abbas what you want?

Otherwise you would have accepted the offers of Barak, Olmert etc long ago.

israel understands and wants . israel does not want peace , they want ressistance and more intifadas , so they can accuse the palestinians of the famous terror excuse . so i think the palestinians are not loosing anything if the they get back to thier famous resisance , it is obvious they will never be independant as long as there is a zionist state , and abbas is now realizing this truth , he is now giving up so he wont end up like arafat . and i must say its a good choice ...

how much more is there to be known? if you haven't yet learned this simple fact you deserve to disappear from the political map. bye bye abbas!

"It appears they do not want peace, and they don't want to stop settlement, and they don't want the vision of two-states, so I don't know what they want," Good questions Abbas. Israel does not want a partner to make peace with, what Israel wants is a Palestinian president (a puppet )with the strings in Israel's hands so they can keep the status quo. Whether its a political tatic or a genuine intention to resign, Abbas has done the right thing. If i were Abbas, i would ask Israel officially to have the west bank as a part of Israel (if this is what Israel wants!) then Israel will be obliged to give its citizenship to all the Palestinians who live in the west bank, and let her deal with all the possible demographic consequences.(especially that Arabs breed like rabbits!)

and what he wants he gets! Just wait. Abbas is a co-dependent by the enablers of the world. (us-Israel included!)

"We must remain believers in peace," I think you mean the "piece" that happens to be ours. Recognize Israel's right to exist and we have a starting point. Peace for Land don't wash anymore

an opportunity" for peace, coined Mr. Abba Ebban this observation some years ago. Sadly, he astute observation is proven correct time after time.

thousands of rockets fired from Arab towns and villages and UN buildings in Judea and Samaria towards Jewish cities all across Israel

If you are a Palestinian patriot ( be it a Hamas or a PA supporter) you cant help but admire the position taken by Mahmoud Abbas lately. Its extremely rare for an Arab leader to walk away from the presidency under his own free will. Only President Nasser of Egypt did so in 1967 only to be brought back to power by popular demand. Any one on the Palestinian side seeking a genuine peace as Mahmoud Abbas is, will be frustrated by the non stop Israeli manuevers. The question that should be asked is: What does Israel really want? The answer is simple: Israel wants to create a "Jewish State" Which means that the Palestinians can forget once and for all about the right of return. Israel in the mean time wants to make life so unbearable for the Palestinians presently living in Israel that they will consider selling out and leaving (ofcourse incentives will be offered to intice people to leave voluntarily). Israel wants to create as many settlements as possible in the West Bank and Jerusalem so as to make a functional Palestinian state practically impossible. With the building of new settlements and the eviction of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem, its obvious that Israel has no intention of giving up the area. In the odd chance that they are forced to do so under international pressure, then they will have to oblige but not before changing the demographics of the area. Ofcourse Israel has plans to divert 80 percent of the water resources in the West Bank to Israel before leaving the area. These are some of the reasons that Abbas is frustrated. At the same time, a mediator is supposed to be neutral. The U.S is anything but neutral. With Clinton announcing that the freeze of settlements should not be a precondition for the resumption of the peace talks exposes the bias of the Americans. Abbas made the right decision and his timing was perfect. Israel had a genuine partner for peace and they made his life a living hell. Well its either that Israel should be ready to make huge cencessions or risk the consequences. Israel's shortsightedness has brought Iran and Turkey into the region and the consequences will not be in Israel's favor in the long run.

Your discussion is irrelevant . You cannot divide 20.000 km2 ad infinitum and demand the subsequent nanostates to be self dependant.

however, they will keep a place in Gaza Prison Camp just for a half wit like you.

Fulfill our obligations. Nothing more and nothing less. Stop your violence, disarm the terrorists, change your charter and stop you incitement and racist attacks. Everything that you agreed to 16 years ago and have never done. That is what we want.

The Palestinians have never hidden their plans for the ultimate destruction of Israel and its replacement by a Palestinian state. The PLO has never changed its charter, and the Fatah conference a few months ago only confirmed that armed struggle is their means of obtaining their objectives. Abbas is a liar. But he's just the latest in a long string of liars who surrounded the biggest liar, Arafat. The PLO remains a corrupt organization with billions in dollars hidden away, and no sign of any moves to reduce the corruption that plagues it. What does Israel want? Carumba...Bibi was very specific. Go back to the negotiating table without pre-conditions. It's like Israel saying we will never sit down until the kassam missiles stop. There've been several in the past week, so why should we go talk to the Palestinians if they so clearly are calling for war?

I'll enlighten you, dimwit. Israel wishes to live in peace with its fractious, death-dealing neighbors. That would be you. Since you have made it obvious that you are not interested in peace, it's a good thing that you -- and your like-minded terrorist scum -- leave. Whatever you have managed to convince yourself ABOUT yourself notwithstanding --- you are pure, unadulterated terrorist scum. You are knee-deep in Jewish blood. I don't care how many fine homes you have built on the backs of the people you purport to represent. I don't care that you travel in a private jet -- again, on the backs of the people you purport to represent. I don't care that you fancy yourself a "diplomat," with access to five-star hotels and fine dining. You are terrorist scum. That is all you are. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it still is a pig. That would be you, Abbas. A painted pig. And everyone knows it. Crawl off under a rock and die.

Everyone knows Olmert was a lame-duck prime minister and his offers could not be taken seriously. In fact, much of what he offered was never even put in writing. There was no way the Palestinians could sign a deal with him. So the next time some idiot on here says "but but Olmert offered him everything but Abbas turned it down" thats not true.

... you simply copy and paste from the pathetic Arab propaganda. For your sake, I surely hope it's the last because if not, you are just as cretin as we've always believed you to be. Oh, and add to that "hateful and anarchistic racist". This is a language you easily understand.

The only thing keeping the scum out of Israel is the Separation Fence, not some noble decision to stop murdering Jewish innocent women and children or kidnapping Israeli citizens! That's why they hate the fence and that's why they shoot rockets inside Israel.

Abbas could at least have considered Olmert's offer as a starting point for further peace talks. But he chose to ignore. Willfully as we know. Does a person committed to peace act in that regrettable way, even if there is little chance? No. This shows Abbas' bad faith. A year ago as well as present day.

Israel should be building settlements for the Refugee in W. Bank to get them out of the camps. When you have lived in a tent your whole life with few jobs and little hope to improve your life, then fighting seems the only option. The PA's main goal is to keep their land in the W. Bank, with Gaza and refugees way down the list. Hamas has their land in Gaza so refugee issue their main goal now. If your a refugee living in a tent without a job then who would you support? Give 5% of Israel, Gaza and W. Bank to resettle refugees, Israel's 5% could be between Gaza and W. Bank to help connect them. Borders and refugee issue need to be addressed first for peace deal to work, then security issues on bothsides to stop all violence. If you want to stop settements then make cost of living higher there than in Israel proper, Gov. subsidizes is alarge part of that along with cheap land cost/rent.

you r comfused lil grass hopper :)