BICOM

In a statement over the weekend, senior Palestinian Authority official Yasser Abed Rabbo appeared to backtrack from plans for a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood in September. Abed Rabbo, who serves as the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), told the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Hayat that the PA would be prepared to reconsider the unilateral track should ‘real and serious negotiations’ based on the ‘1967 borders’ commence. Abed Rabbo also specified that such negotiations should be completed by September, and added that they could include limited ‘border corrections’ without an exchange of populations. Abed Rabbo said he believed that if the PA pursues international recognition, Palestinian independence would eventually be recognised by most European governments. He compared the Palestinian situation to that of Kosovo and Bosnia.

In related news, PA President Mahmoud Abbas strongly criticised the US Administration for its handling of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Abbas particularly criticised President Barack Obama’s inconsistent policy on Israeli settlement construction. Talking to Newsweek, the Palestinian leader said that President Obama was the one to suggest a full Israeli settlement freeze in the West Bank, but later failed to pressure officials in Jerusalem to maintain the construction moratorium. Abbas also expressed his disappointment with the US Administration’s special envoy George Mitchell and Washington’s treatment of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.