Abbas to Delay Statehood Bids in Attempt to Restart Peace Talks

Insists Israel Must Present Actual Map With Real Borders

Facing intense pressure from the US to do so, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that he is scrapping all attempts to get Palestine recognized as a state for at least two months to give the US State Department a chance to try to get peace talks restarted.

Abbas appeared pessimistic about this process, saying that Israeli escalations in the occupied West Bank were further complicating matters. The concession seems to be an effort to placate the US and dampen the inevitable US condemnations when the talks fail to materialize.

At the same time, Abbas sought to sell his own supporters on the idea, saying that he insists Israel bring an actual map with real proposed borders on it for a future round of talks, something Israel has long been loathe to do.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls to propose something resembling final borders, and has pushed for the Palestinians to accept something called a temporary state with no actual borders.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.