Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas strongly suggested Saturday that he would reject a peacemaking blueprint put forward by international mediators,saying he would not agree to any proposal that disregarded Palestinian conditions for the resumption of peace talks. Abbas,who returned to the West Bank on Saturday after submitting a statehood bid at the United Nations a day earlier,said he was still studying the proposal by the Quartet the US,European Union,UN and Russia. But he appeared to tip his hand by saying we will not deal with any initiative that doesnt demand a halt to Israeli settlements or negotiations based on borders before the 1967 War when Israel captured land the Palestinians claim for their state. The Quartet statement made no such demands. Abbas dug into his positions after resisting heavy,US-led pressure to abandon his bid to have the UN recognize a state of Palestine in the West Bank,east Jerusalem and Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. His willingness to stand up to Washington has won him newfound respect at home,where he had been considered a lackluster leader. The unilateral bid for statehood and UN membership reflects deep-seated Palestinian exasperation over 44 years of Israeli occupation. Israel has made no comment on the Quartet plan to resume negotiations,which mediators regard as the only way to establish a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the long-standing conditions Abbas has put forth,saying talks must go forward without imposing terms. The Quartet urged both parties to draw up an agenda for peace talks within a month and produce comprehensive proposals on territory and security within three months. Mediators aspire to a final deal within a year,but similar plans have failed to produce a peace agreement in the past,and this latest proposal offered no program for bridging the huge differences that have stymied negotiations for most of the past three years. UN chief Ban Ki-moon relayed the Palestinians statehood request to the Security Council Friday,shortly after Abbas formally submitted it. It is expected to be shot down there,either because it wont win the required support of nine of the Councils 15 members,or because the US will make good on its threat to veto it. The Council will meet Monday to deal with the request,but final action is likely to take weeks or months. US has been lobbying hard to muster enough support in the Council to block the statehood application so it wont have to resort to a veto something that would be frowned upon by the Arab world at a time when autocratic regimes are coming under assault there. Abbas said he was exhausted by the international efforts to wear him down but buoyant when he explained in a speech to the General Assembly why he had sidestepped the negotiating process that had been the cornerstone of international Mideast policy for two decades. The pressure didnt affect our spirits to reach the target and to deliver the Palestinian message officially, he said. Abbas noted,without elaborating,that some Arab states had also tried to pressure him to drop the statehood application.
