Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Abbas tells Egyptian newspaper, 'We demand a
territorial continuity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.'

There is only one way to achieve that: divide Israel.

Abbas: We won't waive right of return
While PM Netanyahu urges Palestinian president to meet with him, Abbas tells
Egyptian newspaper, 'We demand a territorial continuity between the West
Bank and Gaza Strip.' In letter to US President Obama, he demands
independent state within 1967 borders
Ali WakedYNET Published: 07.12.09, 12:21 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3745068,00.html

Palestinians respond to Netanyahu: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says
he will not waive any part of the West Bank. "We demand a territorial
continuity between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and will not give up the
right of return," Abbas told Egyptian newspaper Oktober over the weekend.

Simultaneously, the Palestinian leader sent a letter to US President Barack
Obama, in which he reiterated the Palestinian demand for a peace agreement
based on an independent Palestinian state within the June 1967 borders.

Abbas stressed in his letter that the American administration must pressure
Israel to solve all the permanent agreement issues, adding that the
settlements were an obstacle to the peace process.

The Palestinian president added in an interview to Egyptian media that the
negotiations with Israel must be held based on the Arab peace initiative.

'No middle-ground solutions'

Meanwhile, a top Palestinian negotiator said that the Palestinians would
reject any deal between Israel and the United States that would allow even
limited Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank.

"There are no middle-ground solutions for the settlement issue: either
settlement activity stops or it doesn't stop," Saeb Erekat told Voice of
Palestine radio. He added that Abbas had expressed that message his letter
to Obama on Saturday.

Erekat was responding to reports that Israel and the United States were
discussing a compromise that would allow some building in existing
settlements under what Israel terms "natural growth" to accommodate
expanding families.

A US official denied on Wednesday a report in an Israeli daily that the
Obama administration agreed work could continue on 2,500 housing units whose
construction had begun, despite its call for a total freeze to spur peace
efforts.

The report followed talks in London last week between George Mitchell,
Obama's special Middle East envoy, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak aimed at
healing a rift over continued settlement activity.

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The US State Department said Mitchell was expected in the region "soon" for
talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Barak has been seeking a deal with the United States that would include
initial steps by Arab states to normalize relations with Israel in return
for limiting settlement activity.

Reuters contributed to this report