Interpreting the Easing of Palestinian Arab Demands

On June 24, the Connecticut Post, Danbury News-Times, Greenwich Time and Stamford Advocate published the following short article, dubbed "Palestinians easing demands for freeze:"

The Palestinians are ready to drop their demand for a complete Israeli settlement construction freeze and resume peace talks if Israel accepts a U.S. proposal calling for a broad Israeli withdrawal from territories captured in 1967, according to senior Palestinian official in Ramallah in the West Bank Thursday. The official said the Palestinians have presented their ideas to American mediators visiting the region in recent days in an effort to get long-stalled negotiations moving again.

The following letter was submitted to each of those papers to interpret the article:

To the editor:

Let me see if I correctly understand the article "Palestinians easing demands for freeze."

It appears that, provided Israel agrees to join with the Palestinian Arabs in violating the 1949 armistice agreements, which specify that the armistice lines are to have no political significance, and United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which calls for secure borders, the Palestinian Authority may consider ending its two and a half year long boycott of negotiations. On the other hand, the PA still won't abandon its plan, in flagrant violation of its commitment under the Oslo Accords to negotiate any changes in the status of the disputed territories, to get United Nations approval of its unilateral declaration of independence.

How nice of them.

Sincerely,

Alan Stein