A Truce Is Offered - Weakness Admitted

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh

said Saturday that his Hamas-led government would be willing to accept a temporary Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in exchange for a 10-year truce with Israel.

His comments - consistent with a call for Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders - came as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled to meet Hamas' supreme leader Khaled Mashaal in Syria to discuss ways to form a coalition government and end international sanctions on the Palestinians.

Well you know this is a no sale. Who wants to help create a state that starts out at war with its neighbor except for the minor detail of a ten year truce? It didn't sell the last time it was on the table. It will not sell today.

However, his bargaining position must be extremely weak, because he admits his weakness. This is a highly unusual bargaining strategy.

"We are with liberating any inch of Palestine," the Palestinian Prime Minister said in a televised address,

explaining his suggestion.

"But we will not close the door for the next generation, because the weak don't always stay weak, and the strong won't stay strong," he added.

Breathtaking. Actually though, that has always been Hamas policy. Nice hearing it from the horse's mouth.

Cross Posted at Classical Values