Netanyahu Reiterates Support for Demilitarized Palestine With No Borders

Abbas Sees Independence in 2013, But What Kind?

With the Israeli voters shifting ever rightward, Palestinian statehood was removed outright from a proposed Likud-Beiteinu list platform, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists he still sort of supports the idea.

At least along the lines he laid out in 2009, when he suggested the Palestinians could have a state provided it had no military, no control over its own borders, and didn’t include any of occupied East Jerusalem. He also demanded that this state, such as it is, endorse Israel as an eternally “Jewish” state.

Several other Likud leaders have denounced the idea of statehood recently, but with all the restrictions imposed by Netanyahu, this is likely a distinction without a difference.

For Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, hope springs eternal however, at least on his good days. Fresh off of threatening to disband the PA if Netanyahu is reelected, Abbas today expressed confidence of an independent Palestine in 2013.

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.